Or perhaps the pulses are powered by something else. Whatever the case, the theory needs a rethink. Finding this pulsar implies that the pulsar population is a lot 'greyer' than was thought. It has a small beam and a fairly weak signal. This means there could be a lot more slow, old pulsars lurking out there undetected.
Astronomers are interested in pulsars for a number of reasons.
One pulsar has been used to show that gravity waves are real.