By Micah Skidmore ( February 15, 2018, 3:50 PM EST) -- At the close of 2017, two geophysicists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Montana presented a study correlating seismic activity with the velocity of the earth's rotation.[1] According to Dr. Roger Bilham and Dr. Rebecca Bendick, even minute changes in the earth's rotational speed can affect the shape of the earth and the contraction or other movement of tectonic plates, giving rise to earthquakes.[2] As earth's rotation has slowed in recent years, some predict that 2018 will see a significant increase in the number and severity of earthquakes worldwide.[3] Although there is no precise way to predict where or when earthquakes will occur, already in the first weeks of 2018, there have been reports of a 7.9 magnitude quake off the shores of Kodiak, Alaska, on Jan. 23, 2018,[4] an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale in Japan on Jan. 24, 2018,[5] and a series of tremors in California between Jan. 25, 2018 and Feb. 11, 2018.[6]...