https://phys.org/news/2018-06-moon-earth-lengthening-day.html

"As the moon moves away, the Earth is like a spinning figure skater who slows down as they stretch their arms out," explains Stephen Meyers, professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-author of the study published this week [June 4, 2018] in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It describes a tool, a statistical method, that links astronomical theory with geological observation (called astrochronology) to look back on Earth's geologic past, reconstruct the history of the solar system and understand ancient climate change as captured in the rock record.