We’ve probably all received phone calls from scammers, who push for sensitive details they can use to siphon money from us. Many of us are now alert to these grifts. Now imagine the voice at the other end was not a stranger, but your partner, or your child. If they were asking for money in an emergency, would you be confident enough to hang up on them?

Advances in artificial intelligence mean that “deepfake voice scams” are already a problem and could become much more serious. This is where recordings taken from social media are used to “clone” someone’s voice. Criminals can then say anything they want and make it sound like the person in question. An expert explains how the scams work and whether there’s anything we can do to avoid being caught out.

Meanwhile, Nato leaders have been meeting in Lithuania to discuss Ukraine’s future within the alliance. Can studying Nato’s history help steer decisions as members grapple with one of the alliance’s biggest challenges since forming in 1949?

Paul Rincon

Commissioning Editor, Science, Technology and Business

AI scam calls imitating familiar voices are a growing problem – here’s how they work

Oliver Buckley, University of East Anglia

AI can generate a synthetic voice that sounds just like a loved one.

Soviet aggression prompted the birth of the Nato alliance – here’s why that matters now

Jan Ruzicka, Aberystwyth University; Gerald Hughes, Aberystwyth University

An aggressive Soviet strategy in Europe prompted the formation of Nato.

Why a holiday is good for you – even before you take time off

Juan Pérez Fernández, Universidade de Vigo; Roberto de la Torre Martínez, Karolinska Institutet

Are holidays really necessary, and why do we need them? And, above all, what are the benefits of a few days off? This is what science says.