Perched on a sun-drenched slope in Bend, Oregon, the Tetherow Overlook House by Hacker is a masterclass in architectural harmony with its environment. Designed as both a personal retreat and a cultural space, the 7,600-square-foot home merges bold form with a serene sense of place, drawing directly from the dramatic topography and textures of Central Oregon’s high desert. The structure unfolds along a sandy bluff, revealing itself through a series of staggered platforms that mirror the land’s natural contours. Rather than dominating its environment, the home gently embeds itself into the terrain, using angular concrete and carefully faceted walls to echo the jagged character of nearby volcanic formations. At the heart of the design are three primary volumes – each wrapped in a uniform skin of coarse wooden slats – that delineate the home’s core functions. These textured structures contain the garage and studio, sleeping quarters, and dining area. Their rhythm and placement offer a shifting spatial experience as one moves between enclosed interiors and open-air zones, where the landscape and sky feel at arm’s reach. Entry into the home begins at the site’s highest elevation, where the approach is marked by a courtyard and a dramatic steel pivot door tucked beneath a cantilevered bedroom wing. Inside, a subtle palette of materials – stone, wood, and metal – extends from room to room and blurs the boundary between interior and exterior. Every element has been chosen to reinforce the residence’s connection to its environment while maintaining a backdrop that complements the owners’ extensive collection of modern art. The exterior design is both rugged and refined. The weathered timber cladding, continuous across walls and windows, pays homage to the region’s fire-scarred forests and weather-beaten tree snags. Carved planes and chamfered edges lend the building a raw monumentality, reflecting the eroded yet resilient geology that surrounds it. To protect against the harsh desert sun and wind, varying types of shelter are factored into the design. The house’s internal organization plays with levels and layers, creating visual and physical flow through its varied floor heights. The living areas unfold in sequence: a lounge, kitchen, and sunken sitting room step down in concert with the hillside. The dining space, elevated slightly above the kitchen, occupies a separate box that projects outward like a lookout post, offering panoramic views of the desert beyond. Above, the top floor serves as a tranquil private domain, featuring a primary suite, guest accommodations, and a workspace, all arranged around a light-filled gallery that overlooks the social spaces below. A refined wooden screen flanks the staircase, providing a visual filter between zones while echoing the vertical exterior cladding. Descending further, a secluded lower level is embedded into the slope, offering a quiet haven for recreation and relaxation with its own entertainment zone and spa area. For more information on the Tetherow Overlook House or Hacker, visit hackerarchitects.com. Photography by Jeremy Bittermann.

Researchers reviewed ocean floor samples collected during the Deep Sea Drilling Project in 1975. Credit: Deposit Photos / Oleg Dorokhin Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. There was a time long ago when the Atlantic Ocean didn’t exist. The general understanding among geologists is that the body of water originated between 83 to 113 million years ago, when South America and Africa split into their two respective continents to form the Equatorial Atlantic Gateway. However, Earth’s marine history appears to require a multimillion-year revision thanks to a recent discovery roughly half a mile beneath the ocean floor. The evidence is explored in a study published in the June edition of the journal Global and Planetary Change. According to geologists at the UK’s Heriot Watt University, gigantic waves of mud and sand sediment about 250 miles off the coast of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa indicate the Atlantic Ocean actually formed around four million years earlier than previous estimates. To understand just how intense all of this movement was, imagine waves that are about half a mile long and over 300 feet high.  “A whole field formed in one particular location to the west of the Guinea Plateau, just at the final ‘pinch-point’ of the separating continents of South America and Africa,” study co-author Uisdean Nicholson explained in a statement. Nicholson and their colleagues initially came across these layers of mud waves after comparing seismic data with core samples collected from wells during the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) of 1975. Five layers in particular were utilized to recreate the tectonic processes that broke apart the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana during the Mesozoic Era. “One layer was particularly striking: it included vast fields of sediment waves and ‘contourite drifts’—mud mounds that form under strong bottom currents,” said Nicholson. These waves initially formed as dense, salty water poured out from the newly created Equatorial Atlantic Gateway, “like a giant waterfall that formed below the ocean surface,” he added. Just before the geologic event, huge salt deposits formed at the bottom of what is now the South Atlantic. After the gateway opened, the underground mudfall occurred when dense, relatively fresh Central Atlantic water in the north combined with very salty waters in the south. The resulting sedimentary evidence examined by the study’s authors now indicates this opening seems to have started closer to 117 million years ago. “This was a really important time in Earth’s history when the climate went through some major changes,” explained study co-author Débora Duarte. “Up until 117 million years ago, the Earth had been cooling for some time, with huge amounts of carbon being stored in the emerging basins, likely lakes, of the Equatorial Atlantic. But then the climate warmed significantly from 117 to 110 million years ago.” Duarte and Nicholson believe part of that major climatic change  helped from the Atlantic Ocean, as seawater inundated the newly formed basins. “As the gateway gradually opened, this initially reduced the efficiency of carbon burial, which would have had an important warming effect,” said Duarte. “And eventually, a full Atlantic circulation system emerged as the gateway grew deeper and wider, and the climate began a period of long-term cooling during the Late Cretaceous period.” The ramifications go beyond revising Earth’s geological timeline or the gateway’s role in Mesozoic climate change. Better understanding the influence of oceanic evolutionary journeys on ancient climate patterns can help to predict what the future holds for the planet.  “Today’s ocean currents play a key role in regulating global temperatures,” explained Nicholson. “Disruptions, such as those caused by melting ice caps, could have profound consequences.”

Whether beamers, bollards, or lamp posts, the following light solutions prioritize lumen strength and distribution as well as charming, modern aesthetics. (Courtesy Landscape Forms) Moment Lighting Landscape Forms Characterized by straight lines, perfect circles, and conical shapes, this collection offers sleek, adaptable profiles. It’s available in different pole heights and mounting configurations, or hung and wall-mounted and with an optional hexcell louver to ensure precise illumination with minimal glare. (Courtesy Artemide) Gople Outdoor Artemide Drawing from the silhouette of a glass diffuser, BIG designed Gople Outdoor as a cotton candy–colored family of lighting. Bollards, spots, and lanterns make up some of the line, each interpreting diffusers in different ways. (Courtesy ERCO) Beamer Contour Projector ERCO Available in a new large size, ERCO’s beamers provide precise and powerful lighting suitable for museum applications. The narrow, inconspicuous framing houses straight-edge projections to create exact framing, cutting down on light pollution. (Courtesy Cyclone) Mochi Cyclone Mochi’s curved dome brings softness to urban settings. Offered in a side or pendant mount, the luminaire features 14 light distribution types as well as backward optics that can be oriented to illuminate a road or bike path. (Courtesy Lebello) Spore Garden & Path Light Lebello These mushroom-shaped LED lights illuminate pathways and gardens. They come in a variety of pole heights and colors, in brass, copper, stainless silver, or black accents, and in 3000K warm light or 4500K cool light. (Courtesy Luminis) Syrios Pro Luminis This luminaire enables a continuous aesthetic from curb to cube with pole, wall, and ceiling mount options. Optional beam angle reflectors are also available for public spaces, pathways, and facades.