Authored by the Institute of Medicine, this new report examines research relating human health issues to gender. The report concludes that, despite a relative lack of attention to this issue, "scientific evidence of the importance of sex differences throughout the life span abounds." The study finds that a broad range of diseases beyond those generally acknowledged seem to have a sex-differential component. One example: females are much more likely than males to recover language abilities after a stroke, possibly because females rely on both sides of the brain for certain aspects of language, as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging, whereas males predominantly rely on the left hemisphere. The report may be viewed online or downloaded, chapter by chapter, in .pdf format. A fairly extensive summary is also provided.