The days are getting longer – but very, very slowly

As the moon pulls away from the Earth, our planet's rotation is slowing, making our days 1/75,000 second longer each year

If the day never seems long enough to get everything done, be grateful at least that times have changed. According to fresh calculations, a day on Earth was a full five hours and fifteen minutes shorter a billion or so years ago, well before complex life spread around the planet.

Scientists used a combination of astronomical theory and geochemical signatures buried in ancient rocks to show that 1.4bn years ago the Earth turned a full revolution on its axis every 18 hours and 41 minutes.