Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

Nick was under the pump. He was underdone, and the selectors wanted to replace him with James Stewart.

The United States, he contends, is no longer the arsenal of democracy. Nor does it have a clear technological advantage over the Soviet Union.

The letters were executed clumsily, with a smeary black kindergarten exuberance.