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Background: Epidemiological evidence suggests that peer influence plays a significant role in a variety of adolescent risk-taking behaviors, including tobacco use. We attempted to establish this relationship in a controlled laboratory setting. Method: We modified the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) task to include a peer component to investigate whether peer influences alter risk-taking behaviors. Thirty-nine adolescents (22 smokers, 17 non-smokers) completed one experimental session during which the standard and peer BART were presented in counterbalanced order, with the dependent measures being adjusted mean number of pumps and explosions. We also examined the relationship of changes in the BART (standard-peer) to personality measures of impulsivity (BIS-11) and resistance to peer influence (RPI). Results: A significant interaction of BART type and smoking status was present (p = .05); specifically smokers had a greater increase in the number of explosions by 2.27 (SD = 3.12) compared to an increase of .29 (SD = 2.87) by non-smokers. BIS-11 scores were related to peer-influenced BART changes: those who were more impulsive experienced greater changes in risk-taking, but no similar relationships were observed for the RPI. Conclusions: These results suggest that peer influences enhance risk-taking among adolescents, and that smokers may be more susceptible to these influences.

An expanded and largely complete upper Paleocene to upper Eocene section was recovered from the pelagic cap overlying Allison Guyot, Mid-Pacific Mountains at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 865 (18ø26'N, 179ø33'W; paleodepth 1300-1500 m). Reconstructions show that the site was within a few degrees of the equator during the Paleogene. Because no other Paleogene sections have been recovered in the Pacific Ocean at such a low latitude, Site 865 provides a unique record of equatorial Pacific paleoceanography. Detailed stable isotopic investigations were conducted on three planktonic foraminiferal taxa (species of Acarinina, Morozovella, and Subbotina). We studied benthic foraminiferal isotopes at much lower resolution on species of Cibicidoides and Lenticulina, Nuttallides truernpyi and Gavelinella beccariiformis,

The planktonic foraminiferal genera Morozovella and Acarinina rapidly (in ϳ10 k.y.) diversified during the late Paleocene thermal maximum (LPTM), giving rise to such morphotypes as M. allisonensis (new species), M. africana, and A. sibaiyaensis. Single-specimen isotopic analysis confirms that M. allisonensis and A. sibaiyaensis are restricted to the LPTM carbon isotope excursion recorded at Ocean Drilling Program Site 865 (equatorial Pacific Ocean). The short-lived (50 to several 100 k.y.) ''excursion'' taxa attest to the ephemeral effects of the LPTM on the calcareous plankton. Single-specimen oxygen isotope data show that evolution of M. allisonensis and A. sibaiyaensis was accompanied by migration to deeper water depths. Ancestral M. velascoensis and A. soldadoensis were extremely rare or absent during the early stages of the LPTM, but immigrated back into the study area to coexist with their descendants in later LPTM horizons. Photosymbiosis may have facilitated the morozovellid and acarininid diversifications during the oligotrophic conditions of the LPTM.