The unknown nature of dark matter already represents one of the greatest gaps in our understanding of the universe. But dark matter science has now reached a crisis: collider searches and direct detection experiments are quickly ruling out the strongly-motivated WIMP models that have guided theoretical and experimental progress for decades. Departing from the WIMP paradigm opens vast regions of parameter space across the scales, and probing this enormous range of possibilities calls for a new approach. I will outline a broad strategy combining new and emerging technologies to rapidly expand our sensitivity to a wide range of dark matter candidates. In particular, I will highlight new methods and results from the first stage of this strategy, based on the use of quantum sensors and in-medium effects to quickly advance direct detection for dark matter at masses well below the weak scale. I will show how a new theoretical picture of dark matter interactions in materials is already shaping a new generation of experiments, and promises to push direct detection all the way to the edge of cosmological bounds in the coming years.
