As a quick note to defend my original point. The definition of "cyclopia" that Snopes links to includes this bit.
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Cyclopia and milder forms of the same developmental disorder result from holoprosencephaly which is a failure of the embryonic forebrain to subdivide properly. (The embryonic forebrain is normally responsible for inducing the development of the orbits.) Chromosome abnormalities (such as trisomy 13) and gene mutations can disrupt this process.
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further research reveals this tidbit.
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What causes holoprosencephaly?
The cause of HPE is currently unknown. Often, no specific cause can be identified. Suggested risk factors include maternal diabetes, infections during pregnancy (syphilis, toxoplasmosis, rubella, herpes, cytomegalovirus), and various drugs taken during pregnancy (alcohol, aspirin, lithium, thorazine, anticonvulsants, hormones, retinoic acid). Women with previous pregnancy loss and first trimester bleeding are also more likely to have a child diagnosed with HPE.
Although many children with HPE have normal chromosomes, specific chromosomal abnormalities have been identified in some patients. There is evidence that in some families, HPE is inherited (autosomal dominant as well as autosomal or X-linked recessive inheritance).
Several genes have been identified that play a role in holoprosencephaly.
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[<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/group/hpe/about/">source</a>]So I think it's safe to say there there is a non-zero chance that what we've seen here today is one of the many, many, many failures along the road to more robust organisms.
As to conception being creation, well, we can parse words all day long...but let's not.
And I realize that the original writer of the word did not mean to use it in a religious manner, but I had just finished reading that opinion when this pic popped up in my RSS feed, so the connotation was very top of mind in my own personal universe.
The fact that this seems to be a mammalian disorder would seem, IMHO, to give more weight to a genetic element, as all us warm bloods share common traits (i.e. DNA), and I don't know many pill-popping alcoholic cats.
peace,
-W