Realistically, a lot of them are probably training AI algorithms to get people to click on ads and questioning their life choices. But math keeps advancing at

Realistically, a lot of them are probably training AI algorithms to get people to click on ads and questioning their life choices. But math keeps advancing at a good clip, there are tons of brilliant young people. Physics IIUC is largely gated on waiting for new experimental results. Einstein, Poincare, Newton and many others arrived at a time when the experimental physics data was perplexing and theoretical advances were needed to clear up the picture. The reverse is true now if I understand. People are just waiting for more funding to build larger accelerators or whatever big expensive astronomy things they need to test the many predictions we have from the various mathematical attempts to unify quantum mechanics and relativity. Biology seems to be moving pretty briskly. I can't speak to chemistry or any of the other sciences. EDIT: I should add that when I left academia about 8 years ago, the mood was that academia was increasingly hostile to smart people who just wanted to do research. The move toward running universities like businesses has pushed out a lot of people who would be candidates for the next Einstein or Poincare. Poincare happened to be independently wealthy, so wealth may again be more of a factor than it was during the last century.