A popular heart scan may be unnecessary for many patients but valuable for those whose risk is difficult to judge. Coronary artery calcium scanning has become an increasingly accessible way to refine estimates of heart attack and stroke risk. Yet a Northwestern Medicine study involving more than 6,000 adults suggests the quick, relatively inexpensive test [...]

A new image of the Helix Nebula reveals how dying stars return material to the galaxy. The Helix Nebula offers a rare look at what happens after a dying star releases its outer layers into space. New observations show fragments of that material colliding with surrounding gas, breaking apart, and beginning their return to the [...]

An oral GLP-1 drug showed promising weight loss results in a phase II trial. A pill-based approach to GLP-1 treatment helped adults with obesity or overweight lose as much as 12 percent of their body weight over 36 weeks, according to a randomized phase II clinical trial published in Nature Medicine. The study tested aleniglipron, [...]

Researchers achieved the first real-world demonstration of quantum entanglement over a busy telecommunications fiber network. A single photon carrying quantum information had to travel more than 24 kilometers through an optical fiber already crowded with powerful internet signals. Despite the noise, it reached downtown Chicago still entangled with its partner at Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. [...]