Since the emergence of femtochemistry seventeen years ago, remarkable progress has been made and femtosecond spectroscopy devoted to Chemistry and Biology has become a well established field of research, giving rise to femtochemistry and femtobiology. The significance of the field is recognized through its impact around the world, giving rise to numerous conferences which includes the most recent conference from the Femtochemistry Conference Series, Femtochemistry VII. This title is made up of contributions made from the Femtochemistry VII conference held in Washington D.C., 17-22 July 2005. The stimulating conference was opened by Professor Ahmed Zewail (1999 Nobel Prize Winner), and as was evident by the attendees at the conference, had a very active program with the presentation of numerous talks and a large number of posters. Subjects covered include imaging, structural dynamics, and spectroscopies, fundamentals of reaction dynamics, salvation phenomenta, liquids and interfaces, aggregates/particles/surfaces, protein dynamics and photobiology, quantum control, and intense laser-matter interactions. It contains the most recent developments in Femtochemistry from the Femtochemistry VII conference; highlights the significance of femtochemistry today; and displays extracts from the proceedings, presentations and posters from the conference.