13th May 2026 I thank the American Institute of Physics (AIP) for organising an exceptional talk by Dr Merav Opher on the SHIELD (Solar wind with Hydrogen Ion charge Exchange and Large-Scale Dynamics) project, which she is heading at Boston University in collaboration with NASA and several other institutions. It was a great privilege for me to learn from one of the leading plasma astrophysicists about this highly complex interdisciplinary initiative. The SHIELD project aims to implement a ‘digital twin’ of the heliosphere, the bubble surrounding our solar system created by solar wind from the sun travelling supersonically with velocities in the range of 400Km/s. This protective bubble,which is much larger than our solar system, is responsible for shielding nearly 70% of harmful cosmic rays. The motive behind creating a digital twin emerges from the fact that the plasma characteristics of the heliosphere are quite different from lab plasmas and interstellar plasma...
Extremely happy to announce that the bhū travel and tourism council has signed an MoU with greek travel agency Kalamaki Travel.Established in 1989 Kalamaki is one of the oldest, continually serving travel agencies on the island of Crete that has been delighting visitors for decades by creating some of the finest travel experiences. Our agreement emerges as a response to one of the toughest challenges facing independent travel agents today — consolidation by online travel agencies with immense marketing budgets making it impossible for small business owners having neither the technology nor the manpower, to compete with them. With our agreement we have decided to take a bold new direction that places emphasis on cooperation between independent travel agencies & creation of new business opportunities rather than clashing over shrinking markets as more traffic is routed through global distribution systems. By placing emphasis on domestic tourism, building new it...