Do materials have a genome, and if they do, what can be done with it?

Materials do not have a genome, yet for the past decade, and into the next decade, in the USA, there has been a presidential and inter-agency funding initiative called the “Materials Genome Initiative (MGI).” This initiative has nothing to do with real genomes, materials, or otherwise. However, in this paper, we, somewhat whimsically, explore some ideas about what a material’s gene could be and how it could be used to further our understanding of materials structure and properties. The result is a slightly non-conventional, less crystal-centric, view of materials structure that we believe can, will, and is resulting in novel materials insights.