Language wise, Python is basically just Perl with its arms cut off and bunch of makeup added. It's just very popular in the scientific community, so they have to add it.
I don’t know how you can possibly come away with this conclusion after studying both languages. Maybe if your point of reference is an ancient version of Python?
Yes it is and current Python is basically just an object oriented system hacked on top of ancient Python. The underlying elements beneath the syntax is basically all the same.