Tan Yu Kai

is a Penangite biologist-cum-artist passionate about human relationalities with the natural world. He is a triple major in Biology, Earth & Environmental Sciences and Anthropology.

7 posts

Appreciating and Defending Penang’s Glorious Local Food Supply Chain

6 min read

Grocery shopping at wet markets as an innocent longstanding lifestyle scarcely received any notice in international news until early 2020 when Western media began targeting “wet markets” at large, once it was discovered that the Covid-19 virus likely emerged from the wildlife market at Wuhan.

by Tan Yu Kai

Plantdemic: The Rise of Pretentious Rarity

6 min read

The plantdemic – an emerging social phenomenon of mass buying exorbitant houseplants for, among other reasons, plain boredom, and parading them on social media in hope of becoming the next “plant-fluencer”.

by Tan Yu Kai

When Did You Last Look Up at the Stars?

5 min read

Overcast weather aside, Penang’s night skies offer the best of both worlds, providing vistas that stargazers from the global north, where the hobby has gained traction (think North America and Europe), have to fork over tens of thousands of dollars to travel to see.

by Tan Yu Kai

Rediscovering Paradise Lost

6 min read

It has been said that the day you think about the future is the day you leave your childhood behind. In that sense, the day our children have to consider adult comments such as “you are going to be a doctor when you grow up”, is the day the sun sets on their childhood.

by Tan Yu Kai

Radio Telescopes: Seeing through Clouds

5 min read

Our temperate tropical climate is typified by loyal clouds and a dusty atmosphere, and much stargazing ends up being a night of frustrating cloud-gazing.

by Tan Yu Kai

Invisible No More: Esteeming Housewives and Household Chores

6 min read

Ti’s struggles border on stereotype for many Malaysian “housewives” or women who “do not work”. Unlike vocational women, they are seen as having no tangible achievements and thus not deserving of any measurable reward.

by Tan Yu Kai

Pet Release: An Act Not as Harmless or Merciful as You Think

6 min read

A turtle that has outgrown its bowl, a bird that has outlived its novelty, an ailing arowana, will all too easily prompt their owners to turn to the alleged curative quality of nature, to charitably return their pets “home”.

by Tan Yu Kai