The 11th L'Oréal-UNESCO Japan Encouragement Awards ceremony was held at the French Ambassador's Residence on July 8th. The Japan Special Award went to artist and MIT Media Lab assistant professor Sputniko!. Sputniko! has produced and presented numerous works exploring the impact of technology and science on people's values and society. This year, she created a "red thread of fate" using silkworms transfected with oxytocin, a compound thought to be responsible for falling in love, and red-glowing coral genes. Using this, she created a video installation titled "Tamaki's Love: Silkworms Spinning the Red Thread of Fate," in which a clumsy science-oriented girl who is unable to express her feelings to the person she loves creates a "red thread of fate" using genetically modified silkworms she is researching. This video installation was presented at the Setouchi Triennale 2016.

She has also attracted global attention through social media and other means for her work, which combines her science background with the innovative ideas unique to artists, and her achievements as a spirited new generation leader have been highly praised, leading to her receiving this award.

The L'Oréal-UNESCO Japan Award for Women in Science was established in 2005 by L'Oréal Japan in cooperation with the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO. A total of four winners are female scientists who are enrolled in or planning to enter a doctoral program in material science or life science, and each winner is presented with a certificate and a scholarship of 1 million yen.