More than the wheels on IT are revolutionary

"It" is an unremarkable pronoun that can be used in the place of just about any common or proper noun -- animal, vegetable or mineral.
But in recent months "IT," became a subject of wild speculation in the scientific and business world. "IT" is the code name for a mystery invention born of the fertile mind of Dean Kamen.
Kamen's resume dates to his days as an undergraduate at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, when he invented a wearable infusion pump for insulin-dependent patients. He's also developed a 22-pound portable dialysis machine and a wheelchair that climbs stairs.
He holds over 100 patents and is president of DEKA Research and Development Corp. in Manchester, New Hampshire, which specializes in advanced medical technology.
He was awarded the 2000 National Medal of Technology for "inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology."
Attention getter: He's far beyond being a garage inventor, so when word leaked out that he thought he was on to something, it attracted the attention -- and financial backing -- of some heavy hitters, like Steve Jobs of Apple Computer Inc. and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, to name just two.
Kamen is obviously no slouch when it comes to the subtler forms of attracting public interest in an endeavor. He's done that pretty well by refusing to talk about what IT is. IT became best known as Kamen's mystery invention, even while a company was formed and a plant built.
Now, Inside magazine has reported that it knows what IT, the world changing invention is: a two-wheeled, hydrogen-powered scooter that is emission-free.
The first reaction is: All this hype over a scooter? Revolutionary? Life-changing? We're talking about a scooter here.
Can a scooter change the world? In a word, maybe.
Consider the potential: It's not so much that it's a scooter, but that it's pollution free. And Americans might want to consider that while motor scooters are not be major methods of transportation in the United States, they play an important role in some large European and Asian cities.
A pollution-free scooter is nothing to be sniffed at. And if Kamen's hydrogen technology evolves into a power source for larger vehicles, it could easily change the world.
A hundred years ago, there were people who couldn't imagine that the internal combustion engine would replace the horse. A horseless carriage was an ungainly contraption that was barely able to pull it's own weight. Horsemen didn't give "it" a chance. Times have changed.