‘Earworms’ Research Will Help Reveal Link Between Memories and Music

“Earworms” are those fragments of songs that get stuck on repeat in your head. While earworms are often frustrating, repeated exposure to catchy tunes can also trigger old memories, even in people whose memory skills are impaired by Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive disorders.

Faculty Fellowships Provide Freedom for Research

From the history of black women chefs to a documentary film on dwarfism to African music in Brazil, the UC Davis Humanities Institute’s new faculty research fellows will pursue a wide range of topics this year. The fellowship promotes interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty, who will meet weekly to discuss their research and creative work.

Graduate Students in Humanities and Arts Display Creativity in Exhibition

An expansive exhibition by UC Davis graduate students from studio art, design, music, creative writing, English, art history, theatre and cultural studies opens May 29 at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. The annual exhibition by students in the College of Letters and Science will be on display through June 16.

UC Davis Composition Students’ Music Heard Far and Wide

When doctoral music composition students at UC Davis hear their music played for the first time, they hear it played by professionals who are champions of new music with years of performance experience.

“It’s an absolute luxury to have these professional musicians play our work,” said student Jonathan Favero. “In many programs you have to beg, borrow and steal to find players.”