An international team of experts have published a study about the effects of heavy internet usage on our brains.

MRI scans published in the study shows brain activity differs greatly between heavy online users and those with less usage.

Study lead author Dr Joseph Firth said the negative effects of the internet can be minimised through mindfulness and focus practices.

Eight people have been injured when a 19th-century wooden ship sank after colliding with a container vessel in northern Germany.

Fire service official Wilfried Sprekels said deaths were likely if rescue boats hadn’t already been in the area due to a nearby but unrelated accident.

The wooden ship had been recently restored at a cost of 1.5 million pounds and was only put back on water last month.

Microsoft has deleted it’s database of 10 million images used to train face-recognition programs, the Financial Times reports.

Microsoft President Brad Smith called on US politicians last year to strengthen legislation that regulates the use of recognition systems.

The database was reportedly used to train a system for police forces and the military.

The University of Queensland Art museum unveiled an artwork on Friday by Elizabeth Willing that adds large flower lights to the roofs of the museum.  

UQ Art Museum Director Dr Campbell Gray said Willing’s images of drying plants and flowers on the buildings will encourage visitors to think differently about the building.

Ms Willing’s artwork is a precursor to her solo exhibition, ‘Through the Mother’, which will be opened at the museum in September.

The State Government has announced plans to build a new men’s prison in Gatton that has improved mental health, drug and alcohol rehab schemes.

Minister for Corrective Services Mark Ryan said the project will create 400 construction jobs over three years, and 500 permanent jobs afterwards.

The Gatton prison will be the first prison to be built after the opening of the Southern Queensland Correctional Centre in 2012.

Australia’s unemployment rate has risen to 5.2% to match what it was in August last year, to the threat of Australia’s economy.

The rise in unemployment comes despite the creation of more than 28,000 jobs.  

But Josh Frydenberg said the strong labour market is one of the reasons why the Australian economy remains sound.

Park rangers are celebrating after the recent but unexpected discovery of quolls, bilbies and wallabies in the Great Sandy Desert region.

Operations officer Bruce Greatwich said the threatened species have never been found in the Great Sandy region before.

The park rangers detected the species using motion-triggered cameras that had been placed on the remote rock-islands in the desert.

The Venezuela-Colombia borders were reopened yesterday, after being closed four months ago in the wake of political turmoil in Venezuela.

Nearby towns have faced shortages of essential supplies, which had caused criminals to smuggle people across the border.

President Nicolás Maduro announced the reopening on Twitter and says that Venuzuelans are a people of peace.

Climate-activist Al Gore is calling on Australia to harness their high amount of sun exposure and transform it into solar energy.

The former US Vice President said that by pursuing fossil fuels, Australia risks missing out on opportunities that would make energy renewable.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she will balance creating jobs and investing in renewable energy.