Are neutron stars powered by magnetic braking or by field decay?  Yes

Once we thought we understood young neutron stars (the Crab!).  Rather, numerous advances and surprises in recent years have shown us how little we knew, and are refining our view both of rotation-powered (radio) pulsars and of less ubiquitous classes such as magnetars. After putting matters into context, I will discuss the properties -- some strangely ordinary, others entirely unexpected -- of the recently discovered radio-emitting agnetars, and connections between magnetars and ordinary pulsars.  Come and hear how things have changed (and how they haven't) since the pioneering work of the likes of Ostriker & Gunn and Goldreich.