Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology are bringing back the clothesline. Only this time, it'll be a washing machine, too. That's because they've used nano-threads to create a fabric that can be cleaned with nothing more than sunlight. Silver and copper nanostructures woven throughout the textiles absorb sunlight. This heats up the fabric on small scales and breaks down organic matter. In other words, when the fabric is exposed to light, it breaks down and eliminates a food stain. The research was published in Advanced Material Interfaces. The team will now move on to weaving the nanostructures in with cotton and other materials used in clothing, with the hope of scaling up enough to provide a true anti-stain shirt that never has to be washed or dry cleaned. This, in turn, could drive down household water consumption, a big boon in some drought-prone areas.