April 17, 2000 Making the News A 15-part BBC television series called "California Bay," focusing on marine life and research around Monterey Bay, featured several UCSC marine scientists, including biologists Terrie Williams and Baldo Marinovic, geologist Gary Griggs, head dolphin trainer Billy Hurley, and many of the student volunteers who help care for resident dolphins Primo and Puka at Long Marine Laboratory. The Santa Cruz County Sentinel ran a story about astrophysicist Stan Woosley's theory regarding the origins of gamma ray bursts. Earth sciences researcher Erik Asphaug's research on asteroid impacts was included in an article about asteroids in the New York Times. The work of associate professor of mathematics Richard Montgomery was featured in the magazines Science News and Science. Montgomery's novel solution of the "three-body problem"--the 300-year-old conundrum of understanding how three planets or stars move under each other's mutual gravitational attraction--showed that the orbits of a trio of stars bound by gravity could trace a figure-eight pattern through space. Athletic director Mark Majeski was quoted in a Santa Cruz County Sentinel article about the triumph of the Banana Slug nickname over all other competitors--including the South Dakota School of Mines "Hardrockers"--in the SportsUniversity.com National Funniest Nickname Championship.