It is a concept called the Oxford comma, though it has a few other names.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/what-is-the-oxford-comma-and-why-do-people-care-so-much-about-it/
It is purely a stylistic thing, though in my experience it is less common in UK and some commonwealth countries. The science stuff probably depends what journal you are submitting to and their particular standards for writing and accepting papers. I would go have a little sample, however despite once reading the ethics standards for all the members of the engineering council I am going to have to go with I have better things to do this evening.
