two things jumped out at me right away.

First "does not require knowledge of an individual’s legal name or identity to function" and the article explains it uses "hash" or "mask" to give "non-personally identifiable information" to each individual. This sounds like a fancy definition for a cattle brand.

Second, " to provide identification for individuals on parole “without . . . ankle bracelets . . . would ostensibly provide that same function " The problem I see here is that ankle bracelets are temporary depending on the offense and behavior of the prisoner/criminal and the "hash" being permanent and more invasive of privacy. And think of those wrongly convicted who would otherwise choose not to be marked this way. . .

Thank you for that encouraging link! One of the attached articles also gives me hope: Mathematician Unveils Breakthrough on Non-Toxic Pest Control That Doesn’t Harm Bees

too darn lazy to even realize it's not actually making any improvement or increasing ease

Can anyone clarify something for me please? I’ve seen both that the Ba-alaket are shapeshifters and that they have cloaking tech to look like humans. Which one is it? Or is it both? Does shapeshifting just refer to the cloaking tech? Thanks.

Please elaborate. I think I missed something. I didn’t see much about the “unique vulvas” and where did the electricity come from?

I agree that silver blood is fascinating. It would be a great adaptation with its antimicrobial properties it would be difficult to develop infections. Most Earth creatures have iron blood, but a handful have copper blood like the tarantula, emperor scorpion, crustaceans, mollusks, and the horseshoe crab. The advantages in iron versus copper blood seem to depend on environmental temperature and oxygen saturation. I wonder how silver would compare as an oxygen carrier.