At one point in my game my science value dropped to about -104,000 which meant 251 turns remaining with everything else only taking 7 turns. Good news is that it was right at a point where I got a free tech (I believe Rationalism finisher), so I was able to counter it. I find it feasible that the bug has some connection to the free tech. Bad news is that since I was able to counter that bug I did not have the need to investigate right away. So I can't offer much more at this point.