"Motifs" as a genetic and musical term

The word "motif" can be used in a variety of settings such as in science and in music. In the New York Times, James Gorman describes his thoughts on how he connected the two meanings. He came across this idea when he has just watched some operas on Wagnerian motifs and then proceeded to pick up a genetics paper on the settling of Madagascar. Of course with the word being on his mind the references "Polynesian motif" and "Malagasy motif" caught his eye even though it hadn't before since this is not uncommon in genetic literature.

Gorman proceeded to contact a developmental scientist with broad interests, Scott Gilbert. He asked his definition of the word motif in biology and after some research Gilbert got back to him. Gilbert explained that it seems to have been taken from music and could be referenced back to the 30s to refer to other aspects of biology. A colleague of Gilbert's also compared embryonic development to music. Like the body has its own musical thoughts and themes and it puts itself together.

Back to the genetic paper that Gorman had originated his thoughts on, it tells a lot about the settlement of Madagascar by researching snippets of DNA from people of the area and finding that the Malagasy motif was found exclusively in those from Madagascar. The idea is that the people probably colonized the land on accident and therefore the "motifs" that this article is referring to is not necessarily that of much importance on the biological scale.

However, words are hard to choose and many times come with some added value when selected. As for Gorman he would like to believe that if we abandoned thinking of our racial and ethnic identities in our genealogies and instead thought of what ancestral motifs resonate in our genomes, we may be closer to the truth.