But already, his standards were not those of Earth he had seen too much, and realized by now that only a few times in the whole history of the Universe could the fall of the genetic dice have produced a duplicate of Man.

Then, from a cousin of Mr. Kingsbury's who had also fought colon cancer, they heard about P.G.D., the technology that offered them a way to reload the genetic dice.

If the genetic dice throw gave you slender elbows, then you should weigh less because you have a smaller frame.

"The attractiveness of the people in our current campaign stems from who they are as people rather than only from a lucky throw of the genetic dice," Mr. Collins said, referring to the disparate cast members of the spots.

At any one of these countless moments of decision, the genetic dice might have fallen differently, perhaps with better results.

Ms. Synesiou and others said that in addition to other concerns, mating with a model might bring tremendous disappointment to some couples if the genetic dice rolled the wrong way and their child turned out to be unattractive.

This repeated rolling of the genetic dice can take seven to ten years to create a new strain.

And then there's just the mystery of the genetic dice throw, this wild, unknowable creature of the woods that looks a lot like a German shepherd and is a member of the same family as the family dog.

To cast the genetic dice in such a way!