307: The Award for Honesty on Mars (feat. Forrest Valkai)

307: The Award for Honesty on Mars (feat. Forrest Valkai)

From Leighton Night with Brian Wecht by Leighton Gray

April 3, 2026 · 1h 45m

About this episode

A conversation with biologist Forrest Valkai about various topics including conspiracy thought and internet grifters.

Today we're joined by biologist and science communicator Forrest Valkai (ig: @valkailabs) for a chat about tackling live call-in shows, the temptations of conspiracy thought, algorithmic cognitohazards, internet grifters, and more! A very interesting and passionate conversation on this one, folks. We had a blast. And speaking of internet grifters: do you hate ads but love (or even just tolerate) this show? Do you want an incredible deal on access to our entire 5 year backlog of video and ad-free episodes for TWO DOLLARS A MONTH? Then check out our Patreon and support the show at patreon.com/leightonnight! Kick us $5 a month and you even get a MINISODE every week, too. AND access to the fan discord, which is cool and fun. It's a steal. We literally shouldn't be doing this.  Follow us on Twitter at @leightonnight and on Instagram/TikTok at @leighton_night. You can find Brian on Twitter/Instagram at @bwecht and Leighton at @buttchamps (Instagram). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Brian Wecht

Guest: Forrest Valkai

Topics covered

  • biologist
  • science communication
  • conspiracy thought
  • algorithmic cognitohazards
  • internet grifters
  • live call-in shows

Keywords

  • Forrest Valkai
  • science communication
  • conspiracy theories
  • internet grifters
  • algorithmic hazards
  • live call-in shows

Sponsors

Patreon

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Patreon, Acast

More episodes of Leighton Night with Brian Wecht

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Leighton Night with Brian Wecht podcast page.