I'm looking to host online science discussions primarily between a small group of people but with the potential for others to join to listen/comment/contribute. Right now the plan is to use Zoom with someone taking notes but I was curious if there were other alternatives (besides WebEx, Google Meet, etc.)

I thought I had read somewhere on HN about an alternative to podcasting where a group of people had a discussion then they could bring in guests to join the conversation.

Alternatively, if someone has a combo software alternative that would be interesting as well (Slack + Facetime + ...)