Science Museum Science Tricks

Essential Cookies

These cookies are essential for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems.

These are usually to do with keeping track of information between page views like your privacy preferences, logging in or tracking a shopping basket

You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

The essential cookies we set are:

• PHPSESSID - A unique reference to your browser session on our website. This allows us to keep track of things like your basket and whether you are logged in. This cookie will expire after the browser is closed
• hideVAT - This cookie tracks your preference if you want to show prices inc or ex VAT. This cookie persists between your browser sessions.
• plii - This cookie ensures you are kept logged in to the website during your session.
• nfPP-* - These cookies store your preferences regarding cookie preferences, like if you have accepted the notice and if you have optionally disabled non essential cookies. These persist between browser sessions
• site_142_last_viewed_products - This cookie stores the products you have most recently viewed so we can give you a simple way to navigate back to previously viewed products. This cookie persists between your browser sessions.
• PostcodeAnywhere - We use PostcodeAnywhere to provide address lookup services for your convenience
• referrer_link and last_invoice_id - These help us keep track of where you came from and what your last invoice with us was so we can improve your experience.
• siteWideMessageClose - These help us provide important messages that you are able to dismiss once read.
• deviceType - Tracks whether we detected your device as a mobile or desktop

Non-Essential Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.

To turn off non-essential cookie click the green cookie toggle button. It will toggle between 'Active' and 'Disabled'

Some information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance and make improvements.

• Facebook / Instagram: We use conversion tracking from Facebook including Instagram to help us understand how effective campaigns are from Facebook. You can view their policy here 
• Facebook / Instagram  Ads: We use cookie tracking to help us understand how effective our digital marketing campaigns and to tailor ads to you.
• Google: Google's policy requires identification of each party that receives end users’ personal data as a consequence of using a Google product. Google also requires prominent and easily accessible information about the use of end users’ personal data. We have published information about Google’s uses of information on this link
• Google Ads: We use cookie tracking to help us understand how effective our digital  marketing campaigns and to tailor ads to you.
• Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to collect information about how visitors use our website. For example, we collect details of the site where the visitor has come from and the total number of times a visitor has been to our website.
• Doubleclick We use cookie tracking to help us understand how effective our digital marketing campaigns and to tailor ads to you.
• Google Dynamic Remarketing: We use these tracking tools to track user behaviour over time and across third party sites to improve the effectiveness of our online advertising. We collect information about what ads users view and whether they click on the ads. We use this information to improve and customise our advertising.
• Google Tag Manager: We use Google Tag Manager to track user behaviour, traffic analysis and marketing optimisation.
• Microsoft Analytics / Bing Webmaster Tools: We use Microsoft / Bing Analytics to collect information about how visitors use our website. For example, we collect details of the site where the visitor has come from and the total number of times a visitor has been to our website.
• Microsoft / Bing  Ads: We use cookie tracking to help us understand how effective our digital marketing campaigns and to tailor ads to you.
• Hotjar: We use Hotjar to help collect information about how visitors use our website and analyse user behaviour across our site.
• PayPal / PaypalObjects: We use Paypal, which set a number of cookies to allow us to offer promotions such as payment term. They also track and remind you about abandoned baskets.

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device. Cookies enable the website to remember your actions and preferences over a period of time, so you don't have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse between pages.

How do you use cookies?

We use cookies on our website to provide you with some of the functionality of our services, analyse how you use our site and to distinguish you from other users. Generally speaking, we use two types of cookies; essential and non-essential.

Essential cookies help us to provide our services. For example, these cookies store any preferences you have set whenever you return to our services and by storing information that you have provided as you move between pages. For example, the contents of your basket are stored in this manner so you don't have to keep adding things all over again.

Non-essential cookies are primarily analytical. These allow us to review and analyse how you interact with our website in relation to the content we have and any advertising. These cookies provide us with the following information to help us understand and improve how our site behaves:

• The number of visitors that use our website

• How our users move around our website

• The content that our visitors view

• How long you use our site for

• How you came on to our site; for example, from Google, social media or a direct link

When do you issue cookies?

Unless you have made changes in your browser settings to limit the use of cookies, our website will issue cookies as soon as you visit. Our cookie management banner gives you the option to disable non-essential cookies, or you can manage this in your browser settings. If you disable some cookies either on site or in your browser, please be aware that some of our website's functions may not be available or work as expected.

Where can I find out more information about cookies?

To find out more about cookies, including how you can disable/enable them in your browser, visit www.aboutcookies.org. Please be aware that if you block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may experience reduced functionality when accessing some aspects of our website. Unless you adjust your browser to refuse cookies, or disable non-essential cookies through our management tool, our website will continue to issue cookies.

To find out more about what specific essential and non-essential cookies we use, click on the "Essential" and "Non-Essential" tabs.