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There are several distinguishing features which can enable any anatomist to distinguish between a vertebrae from one section of the body to another. The distinctions are not artificial. gfd Lumbar vertebrae havev large bodies, no ribs attached, and large transverse processes.

Hope this helps -- DMC MS-1

I've been using Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental large language model to create summaries for the most popular articles with {{Technical}} templates. This article, Spinal cord, has such a template above the entire article. Here is the paragraph summary at grade 5 reading level which Gemini 2.5 Pro suggested:

The spinal cord is like a long, thin bundle of nerves that runs down inside your backbone. It connects your brain to the nerves all over your body. Think of it like a busy highway for messages traveling between your brain and the rest of you. These messages help you move your body and feel things like touch, heat, or cold. The spinal cord also helps control quick actions called reflexes, like when you pull your hand away from something hot without even thinking about it. Your backbone bones protect this important cord, which works together with your brain as the main control center for your body.

While I have read and may have made some modifications to that summary, I am not going to add it to the article because I want other editors to review, revise if appropriate, and add it instead. This is an experiment with a few dozen articles initially to see how these suggestions are received, and after a week or two, I will decide how to proceed. Thank you for your consideration. Cramulator (talk) 12:54, 2 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

What does a grade 8 version look like? -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 15:50, 2 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I generated eighth grade reading level summaries with references, this article's being:

The spinal cord is a long, thin bundle of nervous tissue extending from the lower part of the brain (the medulla oblongata) down through the central part of the vertebral column (backbone). Along with the brain, it makes up the central nervous system. Protected by the bony vertebrae and covered by membranes called meninges, the spinal cord in adult humans is typically 43 to 45 cm (17 to 18 in) long, ending in the lower back region. Its primary functions are to transmit nerve signals between the brain and the rest of the body, allowing for movement and sensation. It also acts as a center for coordinating many automatic reflexes^[1] and contains neural circuits called central pattern generators that control rhythmic movements like walking.^[2] Internally, it consists of a butterfly-shaped core of grey matter containing nerve cell bodies, surrounded by white matter composed of nerve fibers that carry signals up and down the cord.

I am retracting this and the other LLM-generated suggestions due to clear negative consensus at the Village Pump. I will be posting a thorough postmortem report in mid-April to the source code release page. Thanks to all who commented on the suggestions both negatively and positively, and especially to those editors who have manually addressed the overly technical cleanup issue on six, so far, of the 68 articles where suggestions were posted. Cramulator (talk) 01:32, 5 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]