Is it true that there are more organisms in a handful of dirt that there are humans on the planet

Question: Is it true that there are more organisms in a handful of dirt that there are humans on the planet
- Keywords:
  dirt,
  microbiology,
  organism
Asked by Pluto108 to Ciarán on 14 Nov 2014.
- Ciarán O'Brien answered on 14 Nov 2014:
  
  Yup. There are nearly 8 billion humans on the planet right now, and you’ll easily find that many bacteria in a lump of dirt you scoop out of the ground, and more!
  
  It depends a bit on the dirt, you won’t find many bacteria in a handful of dirt from the Sahara desert for example, but good old mucky Irish soil is just full of them 🙂

Question: Is it true that there are more organisms in a handful of dirt that there are humans on the planet