What the Arab Spring Means for Science in the Arab World

“Significant change is unlikely soon,” writes Jordanian molecular biologist Rana Dajani in today’s Nature. “Six months on from the first events of the Arab Spring, there have been no concrete improvements for scientists here in Jordan, and I get the same impression from colleagues in Egypt and Tunisia.”
But that does not mean scientists in the Middle East are discouraged, she says. Indeed, she and many of her colleagues see reason to hope for the long term, though it will require rebuilding many institutions–in education and government–from the ground up.

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