Earlier this week, New Scientist has reported on a recent discussion paper by Science Metrix, which concludes that Iran is showing the fastest scientific growth of any country in the world, nearly four times faster than the world average. Al Jazeera informed us today about the first transgenic animals in the Middle East. Nothing new in countries like America, the mere fact that Iran, which has been badly suffering for years under UN sanctions and branded as a pariah state because of its allegedly, as pretended, peaceful nuclear program, would be able to produce high quality research may change western bias towards backward, retarded Muslim societies.

According to Science Metrix, countries like Oman and the United Arab Emirates grow at a fast pace and the scientific output of Saudi Arabia, Israel or Iraq grows more slowly than the world average, the report mentions that Kuwait, Bahrain or Egypt are at a standstill [1].

On the contrary, based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1025 adult interviewees, conducted February 1-3, 2010, the new Gallup report ranks Canada first as regards American’s perceptions of 20 nations (90% total favorable) and Iran last (85% total unfavorable) [2].

Notes

[1] I have been working at Kuwait University for a couple of years and got a pretty different impression. As compared to my experiences in several European countries, enthusiasm and willingness to work hard could definitely be implemented easier in our undergraduates in Kuwait leading even to a couple of international publications.

[2] Americans other than Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett would hardly get a visa for Iran at the moment. So, Americans largely have to rely on media coverage of a country definitely in a crisis.

Last update February 21, 2010