Harvard

On Monday, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health released study results showing that red meat consumption was associated with a higher risk of early death. The more red meat -- beef, pork or lamb, for the purposes of the research -- study participants reported they ate, the more likely they were to die during the period of time that data collection took place (more than 20 years). So what is it in red meat that might make it unhealthy?   No one is sure, exactly, but the authors of the Harvard study mention a few possible culprits in their paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine .   First, eating red meat has been linked to the incidence of heart disease.  The saturated fat and cholesterol in beef, pork and lamb are believed to play a role in the risk of coronary heart disease .  The type of iron found in red meat, known as heme iron, has also been linked to heart attacks and fatal heart disease.  Sodium in processed meats may increase blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart disease. Other chemicals that are used in processed meats may play a role in heart disease as well, by damaging blood vessels.

Clayton Christensen achieves the difficult feat of being at once imposing and humble. When I visited him last autumn at Harvard Business School, he laid out with quiet authority his latest thoughts on disruptive technology, the concept that justly made him famous in the mid-1990s. But he also took time to chat about his son's college basketball team, a poster of which hangs on one wall of an office full of family photos and memorabilia. Although he places great value on his family and faith — he is a devout Mormon — his research and teaching have dominated his public story.

Manny Hamelburg, 68, a retired businessman, had fought prostate cancer for years. First, he tried radiation, then a drug with side effects that nearly killed him, and finally Lupron, a drug that blocks production of testosterone, the hormone that can fuel prostate cancer. The cancer disappeared. But life was miserable. Without normal levels of testosterone, Hamelburg says, he had no energy, and "zero libido for seven years. I was like a eunuch. I was chemically castrated. Sex was just hugs."

The Southern Section track and field championships will be held Saturday at Mount San Antonio College, with field events beginning at 10:30 a.m. and running events at 1 p.m. Sprinter Khalfani Muhammad of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, the second-place finisher in the state 100 and 200 last year, will be trying to win his first section title in the Division 3 100 and 200. There are lots of standouts in the boys' and girls' ranks, including Gardena...

The social networking site Facebook is helping researchers answer one of the oldest chicken-and-egg questions about human nature: Do we become friends with people because we have a lot in common to start with, or do we become more like our friends over time as we are influenced by their tastes and preferences? A study published online Monday by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says the first scenario is correct -- at least if we are college classmates at Harvard.

Khadijah Williams stepped into chemistry class and instantly tuned out the commotion. She walked past students laughing, gossiping, napping and combing one another's hair. Past a cellphone blaring rap songs. And past a substitute teacher sitting in a near-daze. Quietly, the 18-year-old settled into an empty table, flipped open her physics book and focused. Nothing mattered now except homework. "No wonder you're going to Harvard," a girl teased her. Around here, Khadijah is known as "Harvard girl," the "smart girl" and the girl with the contagious smile who landed at Jefferson High School only 18 months ago. What students don't know is that she is also a homeless girl.

Harvard's lightweight eight, which shattered the Thames Cup record in the Henley Royal Regatta Thursday, followed by losing to Williams (Mass.) College Friday. Williams, which took an early half-length lead, held on through the middle of the race, when Harvard closed within three feet, then eventually eased away to win the race by three-quarters of a length. Williams' time was 7:03, 37 seconds slower than Harvard's record time the day before.

Matt Cornue, a swimmer for Villa Park High, will attend Harvard, according to David Salo, who coaches the Irvine Novaquatics, Cornue's club. Cornue won the 1993 Southern Section Division I title in the 100 freestyle. Harvard, which doesn't offer athletic scholarships, won the 1994 Ivy League men's swimming title.

The Harvard varsity eight men's crew figured that to win its first Copley Cup since 1979, it was going to have to go all out during the middle portion of Saturday's 2,000-meter Grand Final in the 14th San Diego Crew regatta on Mission Bay. Because of bad weather on the East Coast, Coach Harry Parker's rowers weren't able to prepare as much as they would have liked for the season's first major regatta. But one thing is certain: Parker and his crew proved that they have excellent foresight.

Gary Sonkur, Montclair Prep's All-Southern Section running back, has committed to Harvard. Sonkur rushed for a school-record 2,705 yards and scored 37 touchdowns last season, helping the Mounties finish 13-1 and reach the Division XII championship game. GIRLS' SOCCER * Westlake forward Sara Silver-Hill has committed to Washington State. BOXING * Heavyweight Lance Whitaker of Granada Hills has signed to fight Francois Botha on April 14 in Germany.

In a move that heightened competition in online education and brought more prestige to the still-fledgling field, Harvard University and MIT announced a partnership Wednesday to offer the public mainly free Internet classes. Harvard and MIT are each donating $30 million to create a nonprofit organization, to be called "edX" that will develop an Internet platform for the classes and design new ways to teach and learn with technology, according to the two Cambridge, Mass., schools.

It seems that some people never fail to get worked up at the sight of young people standing up to an entrenched power. That's the only way I can explain the vehement reaction to my recent Op-Ed article, " Not their fathers' economics ," about the budding movement against orthodox economics among students from around the world. The general dismissive attitude seems to be that these students have no real right to speak their minds because they're so young that they haven't had a chance to be fully informed.

Not even a dropped baton at the start of the anchor leg could prevent the Studio City Westlake High girls' distance medley relay team from running the nation's fastest prep time this year Saturday night at the 45th annual Arcadia Invitational. The Wolverines, who clocked 11 minutes, 22:23 seconds to set the national outdoor record in the event by a whopping nine seconds at the New Balance Nationals last June, overcame a mishandled exchange between Elle Wilson and Cami Chapus to outclass a loaded field in 11:45.18, easily besting this season's previous best time of 12:00.64 set by The Woodlands, Texas.

So I get an email urging me to enter a March Madness bracket into a contest to win big. How depressing. It comes from my retirement planner, who is telling me this is my only chance to even think about retiring: win a contest. Most of you have retirement in mind: yours and mine. Sometimes I get the impression folks are looking forward to my retirement more than I am. I checked with my Northwestern Mutual retirement planner Chad Chatham recently and he said, "You would be in great shape right now if you died.

The video billed as Andrew Breitbart's last project is posted on the late conservative provocateur's website. It is so far provoking outrage from some corners and yawns from others. The footage of a Harvard law student protest in 1991 captures then-Harvard Law Review president Barack Obama speaking in support of a professor who had launched a campaign to push the school to hire more minority women to its faculty. Former Harvard professor Derrick Bell, the first black tenured professor at the institution, was eventually fired after refusing to come back from a leave over the issue of minority hiring.

Senior Lucas Giolito of Studio City Harvard-Westlake, arguably the No. 1 high school pitching prospect in the nation, sprained the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in the seventh inning on Tuesday and will be sidelined for six to 10 weeks, Coach Matt LaCour said Wednesday. "He's probably done for our season," LaCour said. Giolito pulled himself with one out in the seventh inning of a game against Mission Hills Alemany after "he felt a grab on his last pitch," his father, Rick, said.

Donny Jamieson, who graduated from El Dorado High, was the winning pitcher when Harvard tied a 25-year school record with its 35th victory of the season Friday. But it could easily have been different. Jamieson, pitching in relief against Nicholls State in the South II Regional, gave up a double to Brandon Vasconcellos in the bottom of the 10th that cut Harvard's lead to one, and the drive narrowly missed being a home run.

Jeff Svicarovich, an All-Century League linebacker from Foothill, has made an oral commitment to attend Harvard and play football next fall, strength coach Cody Winn announced Saturday.

Fans and professional scouts packed O'Malley Family Field in Encino on Tuesday to see the 17-year-old pitching whiz who hit 100 mph on two radar guns last week. Lucas Giolito, the senior right-hander at Studio City Harvard-Westlake, has the baseball world buzzing. But velocity alone doesn't guarantee success, and Giolito was outdueled by Mission Hills Alemany senior right-hander Cody Thompson, who struck out seven and gave up three hits in a 2-1 Mission League victory over the No. 2-ranked Wolverines.

Feeling a sense of urgency, senior guard Kajon Mack ignited a second-half comeback Tuesday night that enabled top-seeded Gardena Serra to come away with a 62-50 road victory over Studio City Harvard-Westlake in a quarterfinal game of the Southern Section Division 4AA basketball playoffs. The Cavaliers (27-2) trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and were down, 25-19, at halftime. "My coaches were telling us, 'This will be our last game. Step up or lay down.' We didn't choose to lay down and I had to step up as a leader," Mack said.