Cookies are a way for web sites to store a small piece of
information on your computer so that they can have access to that
information the next time you visit the site. The Science U site
uses cookies to keep track of the images you store in the Studio and the personal preferences you set
in Science Me. That way when you return
to Science U after quitting your brower or turning your computer off,
you'll find your studio images and
Science Me preferences just the way
you left them.
Cookies are also an important part of the Science U locker system, which lets you access your
studio images and Science Me preferences from a different
computer, or allows several people using the same computer to have
separate image and preferences.
If you'd like more technical information about how Science U
uses cookies, read our Cookie Details
page.
Cookies themselves are completely harmless; there is no way for a
cookie to damage your computer, and a web site can't use cookies to
read any information from your hard disk, other than a cookie which
that site has previously set. Nevertheless cookies have become
somewhat controversial because some web sites use them to track users'
browsing habits. These sites can then use this tracking information
to do "targeted" advertising or marketing --- offering information or
products which are specifically tailored to a user's tastes. Some
people see this as an invasion of their privacy. Others simply do not
like the thought of a web site storing information that they cannot
see or control on their computer. It's possible to disable cookies in
both Netscape and Internet Explorer, and some web users routinely do
this in order to prevent web sites from storing cookies on their
computer.
We at Science U value everyone's privacy. In developing the
technology behind Science U we explored a wide range of techniques for
letting users save information on our site. We came
to the decision that for most users, cookies are the best solution, at
least at present. Science U only uses cookies in the ways described
above. We have no way of obtaining any information about you other
than what you enter when you create a locker or when you purchase
something in the Science U Store, and we
will not give or sell any of this information to anyone.
If you've turned cookies off in your browser, for whatever reason,
we encourage you to consider turning them back on while you're
visiting Science U. You can always turn them back off when you
leave Science U.
If you choose to visit Science U with cookies turned off in your
browser, most of the site will work as usual, but you won't be able to
save images in the studio or to store
preferences in Science Me.
At Science U our goal is to provide the highest quality science fun
and education site possible. If you find that our use of cookies
detracts from your enjoyment of the site, or
if you have any other suggestions about ways
that we can improve the site, we would love to hear from
you. Please use our contact form.
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