Biodiversity > Meet the OLogist: Mandë Holford

MANDE HOLFORD: A poison is something that you have to ingest or absorb in order to cause an ill effect. So, for example, if you run your leg against poison ivy, it will lead to you scratching. Or if you eat a poisonous mushroom, it will lead to your stomach not feeling well. And so anything that you eat that causes pain or illness is something that's poisonous. 

MANDE HOLFORD: So poisons are found all throughout the natural world. You can find them in trees. You can find them in seas. You can find them on the land. And so you have poisonous frogs. You have poisonous plants. You have even poisonous minerals and rocks. 

MANDE HOLFORD: So my favorite poisonous animal would be the poison dart frogs. So these very colorful bright frogs look very beautiful, and you want to touch them, but you absolutely should not because they produce toxins on their skin. And if you touch them could lead to ill effects for yourself and others as well.

And so even though they're beautiful, similar to my favorite venomous animal which are cone snails, the shells are gorgeous. They've been collected for years because of their beauty, but they're actually quite lethal to humans. And these venoms, when they inject it into you will lead to death in some cases.

MANDE HOLFORD: My favorite story, myth, or legend about poison I think would have to come from the "Alice in Wonderland" story. Because there they use all kinds of different potions and cocktails to cause her to shrink, to grow, to become-- they sit on these poisonous mushrooms. They do all kinds of very, very far out and freaky things using poisons in different elements throughout the story. So it's really a cool book in terms of a poisonous book, when initially you don't see it that way. 

MANDE HOLFORD: So the way that poisons or toxins in general can be used for good is if you can figure out a way to take something that's supposed to be bad and deadly and identify the components that makes it actually good and healthy. And so that's how we try to make that connection from killing you to curing you. And that's when we try to figure out how toxins can be used for good. 

MANDE HOLFORD: So what I enjoy most about being a scientist, apart from being out in the field and investigating questions, is the collaboration that you have with your colleagues. So a scientist doesn't work alone. You might sit down and have original thoughts on your own, but then to have these thoughts tested and to have them questioned by colleagues in the field or even members of your lab is how science grows. 

MANDE HOLFORD: My favoite place at the museum is the corridor of knowledge because it's a place on the fifth floor which is not seen usually by visitors. But it's where active scientists are working every day at the museum to answer questions related-- From anything from anthropology, to enymology, to paleontology. 

MANDE HOLFORD: Oh, how did I figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up?

I didn't know it initially. Initially I thought I was going to be a track star, because I was an athlete. I was a student athlete. Then I went to-- this is going to be long. All right, quick.

[LAUGHING]

Well I can say I figured out what I couldn't be, and so that helped me figure out what I could.

I couldn't be the track star and go to the Olympics, because I just wasn't fast enough. But I could be a scientist, because I was curious and bright. And so my plan B is really-- Is the road that I'm on, and I'm happy I'm on that road.

MANDE HOLFORD: So if I couldn't be a scientist I would have loved to have been an athlete, but I was too short and too slow And so as another alternative career I'd love to be a magazine editor because I love the idea of reading new things and figuring out how to share that with the general public in a way that would be informative. 

MANDE HOLFORD: My advice to kids that are interested in pursuing a career in science is just go for it. You can already do it because you have a mind, you have a brain, and you like asking questions. So if you like asking questions, then you can be a scientist. 

MANDE HOLFORD: My favorite Haagen-Dazs flavors that they bring out are the ones they bring out at Christmas time or during the holidays, which are the Bailey's Irish Cream varieties.