What are they used for, and how? Is it all ethical? What does the future hold for stem cell research/use?

they have a purpose like we do

The germination of new life from the ovary sprung from a very primitive sort of stem cell. A stem cell, as its name implies, is a cell that can "branch out" like the stems of a tree and form more than one cell type. At minimum, to be a stem cell, as opposed to all of the cell types that inhabit most of the tissues in our bodies, a cell needs to be able to divide into two cells, one of which will be another stem cell similar to the original and one of which will change, or "differentiate," into another cell type.
The best-characterized stem cells reside inside our larger bones and are therefore often referred to as bone marrow stem cells. They are capable of branching during cell division to make red blood cells, the various white blood cells such as B and T lymphocytes, and other cells as well. So the bone marrow stem cells are more "powerful" in the sense that they can become more different kinds of cells than just, let’s say, a skin stem cell. 🙄

if this is a cell biology paper, dont talk too much about ethics, it’s a major turn off to grade these things from a scientist point of view.

well you can always note biological solutions to ethical problems.

Where can you get stem cells, methods of harvesting, why are they controversial, what they can be used for, and the all important genetic engineering.