Strange Country

Strange Country Ep. 288: Talking Dolphins


Listen Later

The mid-20th century was heady times full of LSD, and a NASA flush with cash, which is how we get to today's story about a scientist trying to get dolphins to speak English. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about Dr. John C. Lilly, inventor of the sensory deprivation tank and dolphin whisperer, whose plans for dolphin communication veered off in a strange direction when one volunteer started giving Peter the dolphin a helping hand, if you catch our meaning.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands.

Cite your sources:

GRECO, JOANN, and Benjamin Franklin. "The Psychonaut You Never Heard Of – The Pennsylvania Gazette." The Pennsylvania Gazette, 20 June 2017, https://thepenngazette.com/the-psychonaut-you-never-heard-of/. Accessed 12 August 2024. Greenwood, Arin. "What It Means To Say A Dolphin Committed Suicide." HuffPost, 13 June 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dolphin-commits-suicide_n_5491513. Accessed 14 August 2024. Houghton, Gerard A. "John Lilly." The Guardian, 5 October 2001, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/oct/05/guardianobituaries.highereducation. Accessed 14 August 2024. Jones, Tom, et al. "The Ketamine Secrets of 'Ecco the Dolphin.'" VICE, 16 March 2015, https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-ketamine-secrets-of-segas-ecco-the-dolphin-347/. Accessed 14 August 2024. Kabil, Ahmed. "Meet the psychedelics-obsessed scientist who wanted to learn dolphins' language." Medium, 28 November 2016, https://medium.com/timeline/neuroscience-doctor-drugs-lsd-c17d5e84c653. Accessed 14 August 2024. Rapp, Joshua. "Just How Intelligent Are Dolphins?" Discover Magazine, 26 March 2021, https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/just-how-intelligent-are-dolphins. Accessed 13 August 2024. Riley, Christopher. "The dolphin who loved me: the Nasa-funded project that went wrong." The Guardian, 8 June 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/08/the-dolphin-who-loved-me. Accessed 14 August 2024. Schreiber, Dan. "Will We Ever Speak Dolphinese?" The Theory of Everything Else: A Voyage Into the World of the Weird, HarperCollinsPublishers, 2023, pp. 161-173.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Strange CountryBy Strange Country

  • 3.4
  • 3.4
  • 3.4
  • 3.4
  • 3.4

3.4

176 ratings


More shows like Strange Country

View all
The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

113,004 Listeners

Slow Burn by Slate Podcasts

Slow Burn

23,894 Listeners

Voices for Justice by Sarah Turney

Voices for Justice

8,955 Listeners

My Victorian Nightmare by Genevieve Manion | Daylight Media

My Victorian Nightmare

1,372 Listeners