How does research at the workbench work now?

Pick any technology in the tree, even a distant one, and the game shows the full remaining scrap cost of the whole path to it. Confirm once and it researches every missing step along the way plus the item you picked.

Research still needs a workbench: you have to be within about 5 metres of one.

You can open the tree from the Craft screen anywhere, but away from a workbench it's view-only — you'll see "VIEW MODE · MOVE CLOSER TO A WORKBENCH TO RESEARCH" at the top. Nothing is spent in that mode.

Cards you can afford to research right now are marked, and the screen remembers where you were looking last time.