In the 1960s, Margaret Howe Lovatt became part of a NASA-funded experiment to teach a dolphin named Peter to speak English. What started as groundbreaking interspecies communication research quickly turned into something much more controversial when Margaret moved into a flooded house to live with Peter 24/7 for six months. As Peter reached sexual maturity, their relationship crossed boundaries in ways that would overshadow the entire experiment and become one of the most shocking animal research scandals in scientific history.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

The Guardian's comprehensive investigation - "The dolphin who loved me: the Nasa-funded project that went wrong" (2014)

The Atlantic's detailed report - "How A Science Experiment Led to Sexual Encounters Between a Woman and a Dolphin" (2014)

BBC documentary - "The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins" (2014)

BBC documentary clip - "Teaching a dolphin to speak English" footage

Margaret Howe Lovatt Wikipedia page - Complete biography and experiment details

John C. Lilly's book - "Man and Dolphin" - The original research that started it all (1961)

Medium article analysis - "The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins: Watch this documentary if you are into space" (2021)

News18 retrospective - "When The Love Story Of A Dolphin And Woman Made News In The 60s" (2023)

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions. 

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.