Is the Earth losing is protection for intergalactic radiation?

I think nothing is cooler than when science catches up with science fiction. Such as it is with a story that Shaun Saunders sends in from the Telegraph. - New data has revealed that the heliosphere, the protective shield of energy that surrounds our solar system, has weakened by 25 per cent over the past decade and is now at it lowest level since the space race began 50 years ago. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, which was launched Sunday October 19th will "listen" for the shock wave that forms as our solar system meets the interstellar radiation. This will give us a relative idea of the strength of the heliosphere which protects the Earth from about 90 per cent of the galactic cosmic radiation. The heliosphere is created by the solar wind, a combination of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields that meet the intergalactic gas at the boundary of our solar system. Without the heliosphere the harmful intergalactic cosmic radiation would make life on Earth almost impossible by destroying DNA and making the climate uninhabitable. As Shaun puts it, "Last Light" coming true!

My reading of Last Light can be found in the story archives and it appears in Shaun's story collection "Navigating the New World"

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