2016 was a big year for physics research, given that gravitational waves, created when black holes collide, were detected by LIGO. This is a huge deal and the coming year should show more of this kind of research. Colliding neutron stars are also a special focus of LIGO, because they create waves and light that might be observed as well. Particle physicists are ramping up to do more and go further. While the Large Hedron Collider found Higgs Boson in 2016, that was the high point. In particle physics you're only as good as your last discovery, so look for more in that area.
The darling of new research might be muons, which are heavy electrons and researchers will be looking at how muons, which are magnetic, behave. They act much like tops, spinning around, but there is much that isn't well understood about why or how this happens, and the Muon g-2 project will be looking at that. Other new projects include the Cold Atom Laboratory, which will send a new form of matter into space to see how it behaves. In space, atoms can get to extremely cold temps without the interference of gravity, and observing them can tell physicists so much about how our universe was begun and how it works.