French lensmaker Essilor International SA agreed to buy Luxottica Group SpA, the maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, for about 22.8 billion euros ($24 billion) in stock, combining the largest manufacturer and retailer in eyewear and creating an e-commerce contacts and eyewear powerhouse.
The Permian Period was the final period of the Paleozoic Era. Lasting from 299 million to 251 million years ago, it followed the Carboniferous Period and preceded the Triassic Period. By the early Permian, the two great continents of the Paleozoic, Gondwana and Euramerica, had collided to form the supercontinent Pangaea.
Through animation, this video explains how, during the geologic period called the Permian, plant material accumulated in water and was buried by sediments where heat and pressure transformed it from the spongy substance known as peat to the hard carbon material known as coal.