A Gay Biologist ?? Molecular biologist Dean Hamer has blue eyes, light brown hair and agood sense of humor. He smokes cigarettes, spends long hours in an old laboratoryat the US National Institute of Health, and in his free time climbs up cliffsand points his skis down steep slopes. He also happens to be openly, matter offactly gay. ?? What isit that makes Hamer who he is? What, for that matter, accounts for the talentsand traits that make up anyone's personality? Hamer is not content merely toask such questions; he is trying to answer them as ??well.?? A pioneer in the fieldof molecular psychology, Hamer is exploring the role genes play in governingthe very core of our individuality. To a remarkable extent, his work on whatmight be called the gay, thrill-seeking and quit-smoking genes reflects how owngenetic predispositions. ?? Thatwork, which has appeared mostly in scientific journals, has be??en gathered intoan accessible and quite readable form. in Hamer's creative new book, Living withOur Genes. "You have about as much choice in some aspect of yourpersonality. " Hamer and co-author Peter Copeland write in the in-troductory chapter, "as you do in the shape of your nose or the size ofyour feet. " ?? Untilrecently, research into behavioral genetics was dominated by psychia??trists andpsycholo- gists, who based their most compelling conclusions about theimportance of genes on studies of identi- cal twins. For example, ps??ychologistMichael Bailey of Northwestern University famously demonstra- ted that if oneidentical twin is gay, there is about a50% likelihood that the other will betoo. Seven years ago. Hamer picked up where the twin studies left off, homingin on specific strips of DNA that appear to influence everything from mood tosexual orientatiom ?? Hamerswitched to behavioral genetics from basic research, after rec??eiving hisdoctorate from Harvard, he spent more than a decade studying the biochemistryof a protein that cells use to metabo- lize heavy metals like copper and zinc.As he was about to turn 40, however, Hamer suddenly realized he had learned asmuch about the protein as he cared to. "Frankly, I was bored, " heremembers, "and ready for something new. "?? ?? Homosexual behavior,in particular, seemed ripe for exploration becausefew scientists had dared tackle such an emotionally and politically chargedsubject. "I'm gay, " Hamer says with a shrug, "but that was not a major motivation. Itwas more of a question of intellectual curiosity-and the fact that no one elsewas doing this sort of research. " ??The first paragraph describes Hamer's ????