[HighWheeler]

The tide question is a good one, but I don't think tides would affect the ability for life to develop.

It is interesting that the energy balance of the moon is putting it further from the Earth every year. It is moving away from us about 1 inch per century, and dragging energy from the Earth every month. The result is that the Earth rotational speed is slowing down about (I think) .15 seconds per century. A few hundred million years ago, an Earth day was only 22 hours long.

It is a complex energy transfer, but there are a couple of sites that describe it fairly well.

[RightWhale]

Yes, the moon is leaving the earth. In a sense it has already left, being in an independent orbit around the sun, but at the same time being resonantly locked with the earth for the time being. The tidal pool hypothesis--a condition that might enhance life-forming conditions--seems like an interesting idea, but probably not a necessary condition.