Researchers at Australia’s Monash University have come up with a nanoparticle coating that could make self-cleaning clothes a reality. The particles, made of anatase titanium dioxide, will coat fibers in wool and silk. Once the fabric is coated, you need to expose it to sunlight for a few hours for the particles start munching on errant spills as well as any harmful and smell-causing microorganisms and other dirt. The coating — still “quite a while” from being commercially available, the researchers say — is nontoxic and can be permanently bonded to the fiber, resisting laundering while keeping the cloth’s prized texture the same.

Not only will this new nanotechnology save you cash on unwearable clothes and laundry bills, it'll make you greener just by saving all those dry-cleaning chemicals that go who knows where. Other benefits include never losing a wool sock in the dryer again.

American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert