Atlantic Lens, a Podcast by Marta Dhanis

The war involving Iran is entering a more dangerous, and more unpredictable, phase. What may look like escalation is, in reality, something more complex: a test of endurance, strategy, and limits. In this wide-ranging conversation episode of Atlantic Lens podcast, MIT’s nuclear weapons expert Jim Walsh - one of the few Westerners to sit across the table from Iranian leadership every single year fo...

A 96-page police report obtained by Atlantic Lens reveals the final hours of MIT physicist Nuno Loureiro, a leading figure in nuclear fusion research, who was shot and killed outside his home in the outskirts of Boston. In this episode of Atlantic Lens Podcast , journalist Marta Dhanis reconstructs the timeline of the attack - from hours of surveillance to the moment a man posing as a delivery wor...

Prefer to Read? 📖 Here A homicide case in Hollywood is about to test one of the most controversial doctrines in American law: the insanity defense. Nick Reiner, the son of filmmaker Rob Reiner, is accused of killing his parents in Los Angeles. His case could hinge on whether severe mental illness can erase criminal responsibility under U.S. law - a legal standard that dates back to 19th-century E...

Prefer to Read? 📖 Here When ICE detained Brazilian immigrant Bruna Ferreira in Massachusetts, the case quickly became politically explosive. In this episode of Atlantic Lens , journalist Marta Dhanis examines how Ferreira’s detention reveals deeper tensions inside the American immigration system - from aggressive ICE enforcement and internal whistleblower warnings to the political messaging surro...

🔗 Prefer to Read? Full Article Here The U.S. Supreme Court has stepped directly into the trade war. In February 2026, the Court issued a major ruling limiting presidential tariff authority, raising constitutional questions about executive power, congressional delegation, and the future of U.S. trade policy. In this episode of Atlantic Lens (listen wherever you get your podcasts), I break down: •...

In this episode of Atlantic Lens , we unpack why Greenland has suddenly re-entered U.S. political discourse, and why the security case behind it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Donald Trump framed Greenland as a critical national security asset, pointing to Russia, China, and a rapidly changing Arctic. But according to leading Arctic experts, the obsession with Greenland has far less to do with defe...

On a quiet Saturday in March 2024, a Portuguese-Brazilian family of four was killed while waiting for a bus in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood. A driver traveling more than three times the speed limit mounted the curb and struck them. No drugs. No alcohol. No medical emergency. Four people, including two very young children, died. Nearly two years later, a judge was asked a narrower but d...

How does a regime survive 1,000% inflation and protests in 150 cities? Kian Tajbakhsh, a world-renowned political scientist and former Iranian political prisoner, breaks down the current crisis in Iran. As of Tuesday, January 27 (31st day), the wave of unrest has claimed the lives of at least 6,221 people , according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which is currently in...

History is repeating itself. 36 years to the day after Manuel Noriega’s capture, Nicolás Maduro faces the same legal fate. But having covered the trials of El Chapo and Juan Orlando Hernández from inside the courtroom, I argue that the legal victory is the easy part. The real danger is the power vacuum left behind. In this episode, I break down the specific legal trap the SDNY has set for Maduro,...

In this episode of Atlantic Lens , I speak with David Weinstein , a former federal prosecutor, now in private pratice, who worked in the Southern District of Florida - the first office to investigate Jeffrey Epstein - to unpack what the public still gets wrong about Epstein’s death. David Weinstein has stepped inside federal detention centers about a hundred times. He knows exactly what those guar...

Editor’s Note Fifteen years have passed since the ‘Renato Seabra case,’ my first criminal justice assignment in the United States. In the decade and a half since the 2011 trial, I have tracked the intersection of mental health and the American punitive system through the lens of this case. I am writing about this case now not to revisit the crime itself, but because recent cases have exposed the s...

If you missed the preview of the hearing, read it here. The transition from a presidential palace in Caracas to a high-security cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn is a distance that cannot be measured in miles. Today, Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse for their formal a...

There are intellectual, and spiritual, encounters that flip us inside out. Gary Zukav, who is the author of ‘The Seat of the Soul’ - a 36-year-old bestseller that somehow feels timeless - is one of them. I’m reading the book for the second time. The first was about three years ago, at the beginning of my true spiritual awakening, when it blew me wide open. And recently, I listened to a podcast epi...

What do former classmates remember and what do they refuse to speculate about? In this 10-minute documentary-style episode of Atlantic Lens , journalist Marta Dhanis reconstructs the early academic years of Cláudio Valente and Nuno Loureiro at Lisbon’s Instituto Superior Técnico - long before violence reshaped their names. Through firsthand testimony from former colleagues and teaching assistants,...

Australia just became the first democracy to ban social media for anyone under 16, a decision shaking governments, platforms, and parents worldwide. In this episode, Stephen Balkam, founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), a global non-profit, breaks down what this moment tells us: explains why this moment matters far beyond Australia. He breaks down how Europe is preparing it...

When Ana Walshe vanished on New Year’s Day 2023, the case spiraled into one of the most shocking domestic crime stories in recent American memory. In this episode, Marta Dhanis unpacks the evidence, the digital trail, and the psychological pull behind the Brian Walshe trial. A transatlantic look at true crime, justice, and the stories we can’t look away from. Get full access to Atlantic Lens by Ma...

This week, I look at what the latest wave of Epstein disclosures actually tells us, not just about one man, but about the ecosystem that enabled him. From newly released congressional emails to Donald Trump’s sudden push for full disclosure, and now a prominent economist stepping down under scrutiny, the story has entered a new phase. I break down what’s real, what’s political theatre, and why the...

Why do so many powerful artists and public figures rise fast, burn bright, and then collapse under the weight of their own success? In this episode of Atlantic Lens , I reflect on a rare, revealing interview Madonna gave to Jay Shetty, not to discuss celebrity, but to examine what happens when success outpaces inner life. Drawing from my years covering public figures under pressure and my own spir...