Web cookies (also called HTTP cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small pieces of data that websites store on your device (computer, phone, etc.) through your web browser. They are used to remember information about you and your interactions with the site.
Purpose of Cookies:
Session Management:
Keeping you logged in
Remembering items in a shopping cart
Saving language or theme preferences
Personalization:
Tailoring content or ads based on your previous activity
Tracking & Analytics:
Monitoring browsing behavior for analytics or marketing purposes
Types of Cookies:
Session Cookies:
Temporary; deleted when you close your browser
Used for things like keeping you logged in during a single session
Persistent Cookies:
Stored on your device until they expire or are manually deleted
Used for remembering login credentials, settings, etc.
First-Party Cookies:
Set by the website you're visiting directly
Third-Party Cookies:
Set by other domains (usually advertisers) embedded in the website
Commonly used for tracking across multiple sites
Authentication cookies are a special type of web cookie used to identify and verify a user after they log in to a website or web application.
What They Do:
Once you log in to a site, the server creates an authentication cookie and sends it to your browser. This cookie:
Proves to the website that you're logged in
Prevents you from having to log in again on every page you visit
Can persist across sessions if you select "Remember me"
What's Inside an Authentication Cookie?
Typically, it contains:
A unique session ID (not your actual password)
Optional metadata (e.g., expiration time, security flags)
Analytics cookies are cookies used to collect data about how visitors interact with a website. Their primary purpose is to help website owners understand and improve user experience by analyzing things like:
How users navigate the site
Which pages are most/least visited
How long users stay on each page
What device, browser, or location the user is from
What They Track:
Some examples of data analytics cookies may collect:
Page views and time spent on pages
Click paths (how users move from page to page)
Bounce rate (users who leave without interacting)
User demographics (location, language, device)
Referring websites (how users arrived at the site)
Here’s how you can disable cookies in common browsers:
1. Google Chrome
Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data.
Choose your preferred option:
Block all cookies (not recommended, can break most websites).
Block third-party cookies (can block ads and tracking cookies).
2. Mozilla Firefox
Open Firefox and click the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
Under the Enhanced Tracking Protection section, choose Strict to block most cookies or Custom to manually choose which cookies to block.
3. Safari
Open Safari and click Safari in the top-left corner of the screen.
Go to Preferences > Privacy.
Check Block all cookies to stop all cookies, or select options to block third-party cookies.
4. Microsoft Edge
Open Edge and click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Cookies and site permissions.
Select your cookie settings from there, including blocking all cookies or blocking third-party cookies.
5. On Mobile (iOS/Android)
For Safari on iOS: Go to Settings > Safari > Privacy & Security > Block All Cookies.
For Chrome on Android: Open the app, tap the three dots, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies.
Be Aware:
Disabling cookies can make your online experience more difficult. Some websites may not load properly, or you may be logged out frequently. Also, certain features may not work as expected.
The Yang Lab in Global Change Ecology and Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry (https://sib.illinois.edu/yang) in the Departments of Plant Biology and Geology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign seeks creative and motivated graduate students to join the lab in Fall 2019. We explore how human activities change the functioning of natural and managed ecosystems and how ecosystem responses to global change can feed back to fuel or slow future global change.
We currently have graduate research assistantship funding to investigate (1) how microbial diversity controls nitrous oxide reduction in soils, and (2) plant-soil-microbe interactions that regulate soil nitrogen cycling in bioenergy cropping systems. The latter project is part of a large interdisciplinary effort by the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) to develop the predictive capability to determine which feedstock combinations, regions and land types, market conditions, and bioproducts have the potential to support the ecologically and economically sustainable displacement of fossil fuels (https://cabbi.bio/research/sustainability-theme/). Other themes in our research program include controls on redox-sensitive processes in upland soils, such as denitrification, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium, and iron reduction; and plant community composition effects on biogeochemical processes, including woody polycultures as a sustainable agricultural system, mycorrhizal mediation of soil carbon and nitrogen cycling, and invasive species effects on ecosystem nitrogen dynamics. Students will be encouraged to develop their own research related to these themes.
There are multiple opportunities to join the lab to pursue a Master’s or Ph.D. degree:
(3) Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology (http://peec.illinois.edu/) – Deadline December 15
If you are interested in joining the lab, please email Dr. Wendy Yang (yangw@illinois.edu) with a brief statement of your research interests and your CV.