Here is my experience of using iZotope RX 11 Elements for research:

1) I went to the website to buy iZotope RX 11 Elements – which has (I think) the tools I need: Audio Denoising, dereverb, and declick.
2) I had to send them proof I was an educator to get a 50% discount
3) After 3 days, they acknowledged and I could buy the product.
5) To actually access the product, I was sent to use their product manager.
6) This app-wrapped website forced me to create a login through Google.
7) I signed in with my google email, only to be told I need to use my “passkey”, which never appears ANYWHERE on my computer or phone.
8) I could hit “try another way” and get to a screen that lets me use my passkey (what?) and my password. OK, I have a password, I tried that.
9) I can type in my password (can I use my password holder tool, no. That was disabled!)
10) The password did not allow you to see what you type – and there is no option to do so.
11) I typed in my password. I was still forced to use “2 step verification”.
12) But I could tap “yes” on my phone instead of using a passkey that doesn’t exist.
13) I tap “yes” on my phone. And then I was redirected to the start screen!
14) I reopened the app and clicked login with google again …
15) This time, it brought me to the elements page.
16) I clicked authorize, and it crashed to desktop.
17) I then tried to re-open the app, and it allowed me to “authorize”, and then it opened to your website where … I … could … purchase … it?
18) I contacted Native Instruments support.
19) Support told me to use a new tool, Native Access 2, which they did NOT put face-forward on their website, to install RX 11 Elements..
20) I clicked their link on Native Access 2: 404 file not found.
21) I found a direct download instead.
22) I opened the link to download, and it began to download the Native Instruments software, which I could use to download RX 11 Elements.
23) I could not find any application in my application folder to run Elements.
24) I went online and found out this program isn’t even an application, but a set of plugins that works with other products (Unnamed)
25) This information was not at all obvious from the website, to put it mildly.
26) I contacted support again.
27) They send a new and better link to Native Access 2:
28) the install process was the same as the old one, complete with a request for a “passkey” that never pops up and never tells you where it is meant to be. I did steps 7-13 again minus the crash to desktop.
29) I went to the library and reinstalled RX 11 ELEMENTS.
30) I downloaded the DaVinchi video editing tool, which I found out on my own is meant to support Elements 11 as plugins.
31) I opened DaVinchi, tried to use the plugins, and it crashed to desktop.
32) This crash happened with VST and AU versions.
33) I contacted support again.
34) they asked me to download and use a Native Instruments tool to collect bug information.
35) I downloaded and installed the tool.
36) I got a bug report as a zip file.
37) I tried to email it to support as requested.
38) Email bounced: Native Instruments does not allow the emailing of zip files.
39) I emailed support again to inform them of the issue.
40) They had me put the zip file on a Google drive and send them a link that they are allowed to access.
41) They told me the original install had been incomplete, told me to try again.
42) I found and used their uninstall tool to delete product portal.
43) I used their uninstall tool to delete the RX 11 Audio Editor.
44) I then reinstalled RX 11 Elements.
45) I then reopened Davinci resolve 20
46) Same error:
47) I contacted support again.
48) Support replied back with a list of compatible systems. This does NOT include the current Mac OS X – Tahoe
49) I’m thoroughly (censored) until they support the current Mac OS, which was released September 15, 2025.
50) I contacted support to ask when Tahoe would be supported.
51) 10 days later: message from iZotope

We’d love to hear what you think of our customer service. Please take a moment to answer one simple question by clicking either link below:

How would you rate the support you received?

Good, I’m satisfied
Bad, I’m unsatisfied

1) I went to the website to buy iZotope RX 11 Elements – which has (I think) the tools I need: Audio Denoising, dereverb, and declick.
2) I had to send them proof I was an educator to get a 50% discount
3) After 3 days, they acknowledged and I could buy the product.
5) To actually access the product, I was sent to use their product manager.
6) This app-wrapped website forced me to create a login through Google.
7) I signed in with my google email, only to be told I need to use my “passkey”, which never appears ANYWHERE on my computer or phone.
8) I could hit “try another way” and get to a screen that lets me use my passkey (what?) and my password. OK, I have a password, I tried that.
9) I can type in my password (can I use my password holder tool, no. That was disabled!)
10) The password did not allow you to see what you type – and there is no option to do so.
11) I typed in my password. I was still forced to use “2 step verification”.
12) But I could tap “yes” on my phone instead of using a passkey that doesn’t exist.
13) I tap “yes” on my phone. And then I was redirected to the start screen!
14) I reopened the app and clicked login with google again …
15) This time, it brought me to the elements page.
16) I clicked authorize, and it crashed to desktop.
17) I then tried to re-open the app, and it allowed me to “authorize”, and then it opened to your website where … I … could … purchase … it?
18) I contacted Native Instruments support.
19) Support told me to use a new tool, Native Access 2, which they did NOT put face-forward on their website, to install RX 11 Elements..
20) I clicked their link on Native Access 2: 404 file not found.
21) I found a direct download instead.
22) I opened the link to download, and it began to download the Native Instruments software, which I could use to download RX 11 Elements.
23) I could not find any application in my application folder to run Elements.
24) I went online and found out this program isn’t even an application, but a set of plugins that works with other products (Unnamed)
25) This information was not at all obvious from the website, to put it mildly.
26) I contacted support again.
27) They send a new and better link to Native Access 2:
28) the install process was the same as the old one, complete with a request for a “passkey” that never pops up and never tells you where it is meant to be. I did steps 7-13 again minus the crash to desktop.
29) I went to the library and reinstalled RX 11 ELEMENTS.
30) I downloaded the DaVinchi video editing tool, which I found out on my own is meant to support Elements 11 as plugins.
31) I opened DaVinchi, tried to use the plugins, and it crashed to desktop.
32) This crash happened with VST and AU versions.
33) I contacted support again.
34) they asked me to download and use a Native Instruments tool to collect bug information.
35) I downloaded and installed the tool.
36) I got a bug report as a zip file.
37) I tried to email it to support as requested.
38) Email bounced: Native Instruments does not allow the emailing of zip files.
39) I emailed support again to inform them of the issue.
40) They had me put the zip file on a Google drive and send them a link that they are allowed to access.
41) They told me the original install had been incomplete, told me to try again.
42) I found and used their uninstall tool to delete product portal.
43) I used their uninstall tool to delete the RX 11 Audio Editor.
44) I then reinstalled RX 11 Elements.
45) I then reopened Davinci resolve 20
46) Same error:
47) I contacted support again.
48) Support replied back with a list of compatible systems. This does NOT include the current Mac OS X – Tahoe
49) I’m thoroughly (censored) until they support the current Mac OS, which was released September 15, 2025.
50) I contacted support to ask when Tahoe would be supported.
51) 10 days later: message from iZotope

We’d love to hear what you think of our customer service. Please take a moment to answer one simple question by clicking either link below:

How would you rate the support you received?

Good, I’m satisfied
Bad, I’m unsatisfied

My reply:

Bad, I’m unsatisfied:

The issue was not resolved

You still have not updated iZotope to work with a many-months-old OS from Apple (Tahoe). I am quite certain the reason for these issue has to do with your DRM system as every other piece of software I own transitioned seamlessly from the previous OS to Tahoe, and your DRM is the only difference I can imagine.

52) Waited until January 9, 2026 when iZotope RX Elements 11 was made compatible with the new Mac OS.
53) Reinstalled it.
54) It failed.
55) Reinstalled Davinci Resolve 20
56) It worked.
57) Task completed in 6 weeks flat.

This is an open letter to all my fellow journal editors out there. You can, and should, use deterministic artificial intelligence (improved versions of kind we’ve used for decades in spell-checking applications.) to help you find reviewers when you are overwhelmed by the possible selection. These tools will tell you what various potential reviewers have published, and give you reasonably sound recommendations for reviewers that you can easily accept or reject based on sound and accurate editorial guidelines.

This is NOT true for Large Language Model (LLM) based artificial intelligence. They will recommend reviewers that are not competent to review articles. In a particularly egregious case, I was asked to review an article on the effectiveness of cancer treatments. I am completely incompetent to review such an article as I have not, at any time in my life, studied how to assess the efficacy of cancer treatments. But the LLM sees my clinical and COVID-related work and guesses that I am competent to do so!

The editor should have caught that, but might have not even been given enough information to catch the error, and might not have had time to do their own vetting after the recommendation. This kind of error tells me that no one should be using LLMs for this purpose. The risk to science itself is too high. Don’t do it!

Donald Derrick

Myself, Bryan Gick (as co-first author) and Mark Jermy recently published “Human Aeroecology” in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. To quote: “Airspace has been recognized as habitat for at least a decade (Diehl, 2013). However, the ecology of airspace has generally been defined with respect to airborne lifeforms such as birds and insects (e.g., Chilson et al., 2017). Humans are as much creatures of the air as lifeforms that walk the ocean floor are creatures of the sea. Yet, little is understood about the full scope of human interaction with the airspace, much of which is normally invisible and intangible. Topics relating to human aeroecology have long remained isolated at the periphery of many disparate fields.”

“Here we identify five broad areas within human aeroecology that researchers have developed over the past years, and which we argue would benefit from focused collaboration. These include but are not limited to: Airscape Design; Air Quality for Comfort, Health, Education and Productivity (Air Quality for CHEaP); Shared Airspaces for Social Connection; Auditory, Aerotactile, Olfactory, and Visual Communication; and Pathogen Transmission, as seen in Figure 1.”

Recently, I was working on a paper where we all made mistakes regarding authorship. We withdraw the paper in question before publication, and we have all been writing new guidelines for our labs in order to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

Our new guidelines require that active authors on a paper ensure that everyone who has touched any of the data or intellectual contributions on the paper read and respond to the email message below. Responses are then stored on the authors’ computers to document who does and does not wish to be an author.

(We will have later blog post on authorship order – those policies are currently being rewritten.)

Progress on the paper does not occur until all are in agreement on authorship AND authorship order:

Dear {name}, potential author on {article/project}

A paper on the above topic is currently in preparation. You are receiving this email because you may have had some contact with some aspect of this project.

According to what is sometimes called the Vancouver Convention, there are four key components to justify authorship on a given poster, proceedings paper, journal article, or project:

1)         Substantial contributions* to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND 

2)         Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND 

3)         Final approval of the version to be published; AND 

4)         Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. 

*we consider the term “substantial contributions” here to be equivalent to “substantive intellectual contributions” as described in the Vancouver Convention protocols as well as to “substantial professional contributions” as described in section 8.12 of the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct” of the American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/ethics/code.

Details on the Vancouver Convention protocols can be found in this website of the international committee of medical journal editors: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors.  Those who meet some but not all four criteria should be acknowledged.

In view of the above considerations, we are asking you as an individual for a statement of your contributions relative to the four points above.

Referring to the above points, please answer the following questions regarding your own contributions:

1)         Do you consider your contributions to satisfy the requirement of “substantial contributions” as described above? If so, please describe your contributions here:

2)         Have you or will you contribute to drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content (yes or no)? If so, please describe:

3)         Have you or will you commit to providing final approval of the version to be published? (Yes or No): 

4)         Do you agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved (Yes or No)?: 

Today, Marta Szreder (first author) and I published an article on Phonological conditioning of affricate variability in Emirati Arabic. The article studies the [k∼tʃ] and [dʒ∼j] alternations in Emirati Arabic. In the article, we show that coronal obstruents [t,d] and coronal postalveolar fricatives [ʃ] inhibit production of the fricative variant of [dʒ] in the [dʒ∼j] alternation, but not the fricative variant of [k] in the [k∼tʃ] alternation, as seen in Figure 5 from the paper (below). The results suggest the [k∼tʃ] alternation is a completed phonemic change, while the [dʒ∼j] alternation is a an ongoing process.

The full abstract is quoted below:

This study investigates the conditioning effects of neighbouring consonants on the realisation of the phonemes /k/ and /dʒ/ in Emirati Arabic (EA), which are optionally realised as [tʃ] and [j], respectively. Based on previous accounts of EA and other Gulf Arabic (GA) dialects, we set out to test the prediction that proximity of other, phonetically similar coronal (COR) obstruents [COR, −son, −cont] and coronal postalveolar fricatives [COR, −ant] inhibit the surface realisation of the affricate variants of these phonemes. We examine elicitation data from twenty young female native speakers of EA, using stimuli with the target segment in the presence of a similar neighbour, as compared to words with the neighbour at a longer distance or with another coronal consonant. The results point to an asymmetry in the behaviour of the voiced and voiceless targets, such that the predicted inhibitory effect is confirmed for the voiced, but not the voiceless target. We argue that this finding, coupled with a consideration of the intra-participant and lexical trends in the data, is compatible with an approach that treats the two processes as being at different stages of development, where the [k∼tʃ] alternation is a completed phonemic change, while the [dʒ∼j] alternation is a synchronic phonological process.

Szreder, Marta & Derrick, Donald (2023) Phonological conditioning of affricate variability in Emirati Arabic, Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 1-19.

My first commercial video game is now available on the Android Google Play Store, and you can see an advertisement on my YouTube Channel. This game is inspired by the fairy-tale of Little Red Riding Hood. It revises the story through the eyes of a farmer named Crimson who is trying to protect his cows, sheep, and chicken.

Will Crimson hear the call to protect his animals?

Will he rush foolishly into battle, ignore the plight of his animals and go back to sleep, or visit the local town of Wolfville?

There are 27 endings to this game, and upon completion, you can replay the game to see each of the memorials to Crimson’s possible lives in the cemetery of the possible.