This depends on your definition of "advances in physics". "New physics", physics that we don't already have an explanation for, is becoming increasingly rare.

This depends on your definition of "advances in physics". "New physics", physics that we don't already have an explanation for, is becoming increasingly rare. Our definition of "new physics" is also expanding to including things that aren't fundamentally new, just small holes in our understanding of the equations. The flip side of this is that while we already know the broad strokes, there is still a lot of work to be done in filling in the details. This work is just less glamorous and doesn't make the headlines.