Technology has most definitely made life easier for the modern man – we no longer have to fret about getting lost thanks to our trusty SAT NAV, we can do our weekly grocery shop with the touch of a button and now, it seems we don’t even have to worry about washing our clothes anymore. Something that is sure to put a smile on the face of the lazy souls amongst us is the news of a recent technological advancement that could see us all wearing self-cleaning clothes in the not too distant future. Researchers at the Shanghai Jian Tong University and Hubei University for Nationalities in China have created a chemical coating that causes cotton materials to cleanse themselves of stains and remove odours when exposed to sunlight. Their study focused around the chemical, titanium dioxide, which is known to be an excellent catalyst in the degradation of organic pollutants and is already used in self-cleaning windows, odour-free socks and stay-clean kitchen tiles. To test the effectiveness of their invention, the engineers marked cotton fabrics with an orange dye stain and exposed them to the sun. After two hours in the sunlight, the team said 71% of the stain had been removed. This innovation is sure to be a big hit in Japan, where the authorities ordered a crackdown on air conditioning use after March’s earthquake caused power shortages, but also we could see this type of functional clothing creeping into the western world in the coming years as well.