Inconsistent researching.

I've found that sometimes the good doc gets lazy and doesn't do any research at all for long stretches of time. Is this normal? Does he only do research for a limited time after you complete an objective? Does he only do research when you're saving his precious Darwinians? It gets annoying when it takes five times as long to research the first bar of one item as it does to research the second of another, when the second should take longer.

I believe he does research when you capture buildings and maybe when you complete objectives

No, only when you capture buildings.

I'm pretty sure the game only saves when you capture buildings, as well. Sucks, really.....it's preventing me from beating Yard, because I've already captured all the buildings, and it keeps crashing before I can destroy all the anthills.

If I had an uncaptured building left, this would be an avoidable issue, I suspect...