First... MATLAB sucks! Second... This is some code I found on Stackoverflow that converts .mat files to python dictionaries..

mat2py.py

import scipy.io as spio


def loadmat(filename):
    '''
    this function should be called instead of direct spio.loadmat
    as it cures the problem of not properly recovering python dictionaries
    from mat files. It calls the function check keys to cure all entries
    which are still mat-objects
    '''
    data = spio.loadmat(filename, struct_as_record=False, squeeze_me=True)
    return _check_keys(data)

def _check_keys(dict):
    '''
    checks if entries in dictionary are mat-objects. If yes
    todict is called to change them to nested dictionaries
    '''
    for key in dict:
        if isinstance(dict[key], spio.matlab.mio5_params.mat_struct):
            dict[key] = _todict(dict[key])
    return dict

def _todict(matobj):
    '''
    A recursive function which constructs from matobjects nested dictionaries
    '''
    dict = {}
    for strg in matobj._fieldnames:
        elem = matobj.__dict__[strg]
        if isinstance(elem, spio.matlab.mio5_params.mat_struct):
            dict[strg] = _todict(elem)
        elif isinstance(elem,np.ndarray):
            dict[strg] = _tolist(elem)
        else:
            dict[strg] = elem
    return dict

def _tolist(ndarray):
    '''
    A recursive function which constructs lists from cellarrays
    (which are loaded as numpy ndarrays), recursing into the elements
    if they contain matobjects.
    '''
    elem_list = []
    for sub_elem in ndarray:
        if isinstance(sub_elem, spio.matlab.mio5_params.mat_struct):
            elem_list.append(_todict(sub_elem))
        elif isinstance(sub_elem,np.ndarray):
            elem_list.append(_tolist(sub_elem))
        else:
            elem_list.append(sub_elem)
    return elem_list

if __name__ == "__main__":
    wObs = '/media/mcamp/ExoHDD/miniC2BMC/wObjs.mat'
    wObs = loadmat(wObs)
    #follow this pattern for all field names in the .mat file
    for r in range(len(wObs['wObjs'])):
        print(wObs['wObjs'][r].name)