The aim of this paper is to show that the existence of "cold" nuclear fusion in the palladium lattice cannot be just an irrelevant oddity since it derives from the peculiar interplay of electromagnetic and matter fields. Hence its understanding requires the conceptual frame established by Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). Here we sketch a conceptual path starting from the knowledge of unexplained facts known for decades. Along this path we come to the proposal of a new field of research initiated by the experiments performed by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons (1) from 1984 to 1989. We conclude our review with the description of the experiments we did in 2002 where we observed simultaneously both excess heat and ~4He production in an electrolytic cell with heavy water and a Pd cathode.
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