We look back on pioneers with admiration–awe, even–their foolhardiness forgotten, their sense of adventure and sacrifice appreciated. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about wagon-train Westerners, early aviators or Apollo astronauts who trusted in missions too difficult to comprehend–these are the heroes, the ones who’ve expanded the horizons. We look differently at the new pioneers, those who are taking a dangerous journey within, testing the human limits of biology and chemistry with the aid of drugs and implants. Just like their predecessors, they’re risking everything for a chance at a better life for them and for us. There will be casualties–there always are in pioneering.

A new video of biohacker Tim Cannon.